thought provoking

[DocW]

The subjects covered affect us all on a daily basis:

They're written by Andy Rooney , a man who has the gift of saying so much with so few words. Enjoy.......

I've learned.... That the best classroom in the world is at the feet of an elderly person.

I've learned.... That when you're in love, it shows.

I've learned.... That just one person saying to me, 'You've made my day!' makes my day.

I've learned.... That having a child fall asleep in your arms is one of the most peaceful feelings in the world.

I've learned.... That being kind is more important than being right.

I've learned.... That you should never say no to a gift from a child.

I've learned.... That I can always pray for someone when I don't have the strength to help him in some other way.

I've learned .... That no matter how serious your life requires you to be, everyone needs a friend to act goofy with.

I've learned.... That sometimes all a person needs is a hand to hold and a heart to understand.

I've learned.... That simple walks with my father around the block on summer nights when I was a child did wonders for me as an adult.

I've learned.... That life is like a roll of toilet paper. The closer it gets to the end, the faster it goes.

I've learned.... That we should be glad God doesn't give us everything we ask for.

I've learned.... That money doesn't buy class.

I've learned.... That it's those small daily happenings that make life so spectacular.


I've learned... That under everyone's hard shell is someone who wants to be appreciated and loved.

I've learned.... That to ignore the facts does not change the facts.

I 've learned.... That when you plan to get even with someone, you are only letting that person continue to hurt you.

I've learned.... That love, not time, heals all wounds.

I've learned .... That the easiest way for me to grow as a person is to surround myself with people smarter than I am.

I've learned.... That everyone you meet deserves to be greeted with a smile.

I've learned.... That no one is perfect until you fall in love with them.

I've learned... That life is tough, but I'm tougher.

I've learned.... That opportunities are never lost; someone will take the ones you miss.

I've learned.... That when you harbor bitterness, happiness will dock elsewhere.

I've learned.... That I wish I could have told my Mom that I love her one more time before she passed away.

I've learned.... That one should keep his words both soft and tender, because tomorrow he may have to eat them.

I've learned.... That a smile is an inexpensive way to improve your looks.

I've learned.... That everyone wants to live on top of the mountain, but all the happiness and growth occurs while you're climbing it.

I've learned.... That the less time I have to work with, the more things I get done.

[DocW]

The Book of Life

Qur'an
Waheed Uddin Khan
(Tr. by:Tariq Haashmi)



The book of life is constantly turning its leaves. Every morning opens a new page. It adds to the leaves turned and lessens the remaining ones. The day is not far when you will be enjoying the last moments of your life. The book then will be closed and all your entries saved.

Have you ever thought what you are adding to this book? What changes do you make in its contents each day? Aware or unaware be you, this work of yours is progressing. You are on it with all your might. You write all that you think, see, hear, desire, perform and achieve. You and only you can make additions to it. Nobody else can make the slightest change in its contents.

You are the sole writer of this work and are constantly working on it. Stop and think for a while. One day you will find the same book in you hands and your Lord will be saying to you:

Read this thy record! Sufficient is your own self today to make out your account. (17:14)

[Ramsey]

The subjects covered affect us all on a daily basis:

They're written by Andy Rooney , a man who has the gift of saying so much with so few words. Enjoy.......


I don't mean to be horrible but... threads like this always bring the cynic out of me.

Hasn't this man ever heard of the phrase "Be cruel to be kind"?

[DocW]

Do not let your difficulties fill you with anxiety, after all, it is only in the darkest nights that the stars shine most brilliantly. [Ali radi Allah anhu]

[DocW]

Guidance of the Day:
What, then, is marriage all about? What makes some marriages successful, and others fail? How do we know if our intended marriage will work? How can we save a marriage that is not working? Why is the divorce rate so high? These are questions that many of us have wrestled with, questions which have too often been answered through pain and hardship.

We might say that our motivation for entering into marriage or a relationship can be distilled to two basic dynamic attitudes: "I am going to get something from this person," or "I am going to share with this person." The first attitude leads only to pain; the second, to joy. The first is seeking to get; the second, to expand. Sharing works, taking doesn't. A house built upon sand cannot stand. The divorce rate affirms this parable. If the relationship is inaugurated on the foundation of celebration and overflow, we will receive many of the things that others marry in order to get, but they come as gifts, and joys, and not as a payoff. [Cohen, The Dragon Doesn't Live Here Anymore]

Food for Thought:
If the individual is to be happy, healthy, and prosperous, he must change from the Laws of the Mind (negative) to the Laws of the Soul (positive).
Laws of the Mind are: fear, worry, selfishness, vanity, anger, criticism, envy, greed, hypocrisy, prejudice, jealousy, and hate.
Laws of the Soul are: faith, hope, generosity, aspiration, patience, sympathy, goodness, kindness, courage, duty, and love.

by

Mrs Iffat hHasan

[DocW]

اللَّهُمَّ بِعِلْمِكَ الْغَيْبَ وَقُدْرَتِكَ عَلَى الْخَلْقِ أَحْيِنِي مَا عَلِمْتَ الْحَيَاةَ خَيْرًا لِي وَتَوَفَّنِي إِذَا عَلِمْتَ الْوَفَاةَ خَيْرًا لِي وَأَسْأَلُكَ خَشْيَتَكَ فِي الْغَيْبِ وَالشَّهَادَةِ وَكَلِمَةَ الْإِخْلَاصِ فِي الرِّضَا وَالْغَضَبِ وَأَسْأَلُكَ نَعِيمًا لَا يَنْفَدُ وَقُرَّةَ عَيْنٍ لَا تَنْقَطِعُ وَأَسْأَلُكَ الرِّضَاءَ بِالْقَضَاءِ وَبَرْدَ الْعَيْشِ بَعْدَ الْمَوْتِ وَلَذَّةَ النَّظَرِ إِلَى وَجْهِكَ وَالشَّوْقَ إِلَى لِقَائِكَ وَأَعُوذُ بِكَ مِنْ ضَرَّاءَ مُضِرَّةٍ وَفِتْنَةٍ مُضِلَّةٍ اللَّهُمَّ زَيِّنَّا بِزِينَةِ الْإِيمَانِ وَاجْعَلْنَا هُدَاةً مُهْتَدِينَ

O God! Because of Your knowledge of the unseen and because of Your power over Your creation, grant me with life till the time You think that living is best for me and take me away from this world when You think that taking me away is best for me. O God! I seek humility from You in public and in private and in happiness and in sorrow want You to guide me to the truth and request You with what is between affluence and poverty and ask from You a favour that will never end and the coolness of the eye which will never cease. I seek from You the strength to be content on Your decisions and seek the blessings of life after death and the fervour to meet You and the bliss to see You such that I neither remain in the calamity that is burdensome nor trials which may mislead me. O God! Grant us the embellishment of faith and make us such that we are rightly guided and are able to guide others as well.

prayer

[Guidance]

Pardon me , sir

I did enjoy reading your thoughts , and was indeed gratified to see you quoting Saiduna ALI Radia Allahu Anh . I never thought that such knowledge was available to you in English . Jazakum Allah Kairan .

But I do wonder , if you would allow me , what is the "provoking" ?? Personally I do not see something provoking . Would you kindly set me right ??!

Much Obliged

:alhumdillah:

[DocW]

Letter by Abraham Lincoln to his sons teacher on his first day at school


My son starts school today. It is all going to be strange and new to him for a while and I wish you would treat him gently. It is an adventure that might take him across continents. All adventures that probably include wars, tragedy and sorrow. To live this life will require faith, love and courage.

So dear Teacher, will you please take him by his hand and teach him things he will have to know, teaching him - but gently, if you can. Teach him that for every enemy, there is a friend. He will have to know that all men are not just, that all men are not true. But teach him also that for every scoundrel there is a hero, that for every crooked politician, there is a dedicated leader.

Teach him if you can that 10 cents earned is of far more value than a dollar found. In school, teacher, it is far more honorable to fail than to cheat. Teach him to learn how to gracefully lose, and enjoy winning when he does win.

Teach him to be gentle with people, tough with tough people. Steer him away from envy if you can and teach him the secret of quiet laughter. Teach him if you can - how to laugh when he is sad, teach him there is no shame in tears. Teach him there can be glory in failure and despair in success. Teach him to scoff at cynics.

Teach him if you can the wonders of books, but also give time to ponder the extreme mystery of birds in the sky, bees in the sun and flowers on a green hill. Teach him to have faith in his own ideas, even if every one tell him they are wrong.

Try to give my son the strength not to follow the crowd when everyone else is doing it. Teach him to listen to every one, but teach him also to filters all that he hears on a screen of truth and take only the good that comes through.

Teach him to sell his talents and brains to the highest bidder but never to put a price tag on his heart and soul. Let him have the courage to be impatient, let him have the patient to be brave. Teach him to have sublime faith in himself, because then he will always have sublime faith in mankind, in God.

This is the order, teacher but see what best you can do. He is such a nice little boy and he is my son.

[DocW]

[QUOTE=خادمة الإسلام;121812][I][FONT="Book Antiqua"][COLOR="RoyalBlue"][SIZE="4"][B]Pardon me , sir

I did enjoy reading your thoughts , and was indeed gratified to see you quoting Saiduna ALI Radia Allahu Anh . I never thought that such knowledge was available to you in English . Jazakum Allah Kairan .

But I do wonder , if you would allow me , what is the "provoking" ?? Personally I do not see something provoking . Would you kindly set me right ??!

Salam sister

Thought provoking is meant to make you think and deliberate about something. The idea behind it is to read something which is inspirational and motivational and pass it on if you feel it has the potential of touching other people's hearts and minds and make them approach life differently. Naturally , it can be anything and any body and not necessarily from our own religion.

I try to share what I find inspirational, whether it fulfils the criteria only participants can decide

kind regards

[DocW]

Love him who tells you your faults in private.
~Hebrew Proverb~

[DocW]

Footprints on the Sands of Time
Reflections
Shehzad Saleem

In our society everything is given patronage except learning and research. Praises are showered on worthless ideas, meaningless concepts are applauded and sensless thoughts extoled but, sadly enough, true knowledge is forsaken and condemned. Ignorance is garlanded with an ignorance profound. Scholarly research in religious issues, in particular, is considered high treason and inevitably rewarded with bricks and battons.

In this regard, the greatest malady is Taqlid1. Every opinion which has once been adopted is never thought over again. Every idea which has once been formed is regarded with a sanctity which renders it eternal. Every view which has remained undisputed in the past has become no less than the Word of God. Emotional attachment to traditional concepts and conventional thoughts, however foolish they may be and however much they might distort the truth, has given rise to prejudice and intolerance. Sincere words of criticism are anticipated with fire and fury from these quarters. A person who does so is degraded and disgraced in the society, even if his arguments are based on the Qur’ān and Sunnah.

But then, this attitude is not even worth complaining. Irrespective of all consequences, a person should always uphold the voice of his conscience. He should remain steadfast in the cause of truth and face every adverse current of the society with grit and endurance. Any increase in the intensity of opposition should only increase his patience. The more the going gets tough, the tougher he should become---for expending even the last drop of blood in the cause of truth will make this path easier for others to tread. Like a lighthouse all his struggles and sacrifices will gleam as a source of guidance for humanity. He would then redifine the meaning of courage. He would then extend the frontiers of valor. He would then add new dimensions to dare and defiance. In the heavens, the angels will pray for his success and upon the earth success itself would yearn to waylay him.

He should, also, never forget that since the earliest stroke of his intellectual voyage, he has remained the most besought target of traditionalists---the worst enemies of true knowledge. They have always challenged the torrent of his intellectual advancement. In all times of known history they have obstructed his progress, but then, with no avail. Everytime that their claws have closed on the champions of truth, a new episode of man's loftiness has been scribed by the historians pen. Ibni-Taimiyiah and Ibni-Hazm, Abu-Hanifa and Maalik, Socrates and Copernicus all have written with their own blood, stories of man's resolve against oppression and persecution. They did die fighting but with their death the torch of truth shone even more brightly and is held high to this day by the successors of these giants, by no means any less in stature.

These legends, perhaps, have a message for us:



Lives of great men all remind us

We can make our lives sublime

And, departing, leave behind us

Footprints on the sands of time

[DocW]

We can control the amount of happiness in our lives, simply by training our minds to focus on that which is good, beautiful, and true. We do not need to fight or curse that which is not good. All we need to do is to accentuate the positive, and the negative will shrivel up and waste away from lack of attention.

God made each of us with the intention to bless the world through us. We can make a supremely valuable contribution to the universe simply by appreciating our holiness and seeing all as blessed. The more we bless life, the more life will bless us. As we sanctify our lives through our own gratefulness, the illusion of lack vanishes like the morning mist, and our cup runs over with thanksgiving enough to share a million times over.

Food for Thought:
To change yourself, you must start on the inside-------changing from the inside out. Fake it till you make it, to be the person you want to be. When you become different inside, it will reflect on the outside, and all will know and recognize the new you. What changes would you like to make? Decide how you want to be, work on those changes, and act as if you are already there.

by

Mrs Iffath Hasan

[DocW]

Once a king called upon all of his wise men and asked them, ” Is there a mantra or suggestion which works in every situation, in every circumstances, in every place and in every time. In every joy, every sorrow, every defeat and every victory? One answer for all questions? Something which can help me when none of you is available to advise me? Tell me is there any mantra?”

All the wise men were puzzled by the King’s question. They thought and thought. After a lengthy discussion, an old man suggested something which appealed to all of them. They went to the king and gave him something written on paper, with a condition that the king was not to see it out of curiosity. Only in extreme danger, when the King finds himself alone and there seems to be no way, only then he can see it. The King put the papers under his Diamond ring.

Some time later, the neighbors attacked the Kingdom. King and his army fought bravely but lost the battle. The King had to flee on his horse. The enemies were following him. getting closer and closer. Suddenly the King found himself standing at the end of the road - that road was not going anywhere. Underneath there was a rocky valley thousand feet deep. If he jumped into it, he would be finished…and he could not return because it was a small road…the sound of enemy’s horses was approaching fast. The King became restless. There seemed to be no way.

Then suddenly he saw the Diamond in his ring shining in the sun, and he remembered the message hidden in the ring. He opened the diamond and read the message. The message was - ” THIS TOO SHALL PASS”

The King read it . Again read it. Suddenly something struck him- Yes ! This too will pass. Only a few days ago, I was enjoying my kingdom. I was the mightiest of all the Kings. Yet today, the Kingdom and all his pleasure have gone. I am here trying to escape from enemies.

Like those days of luxuries have gone, this day of danger too will pass. A calm came on his face. He kept standing there. The place where he was standing was full of natural beauty. He had never known that such a beautiful place was also a part of his Kingdom.

The revelation of the message had a great effect on him. He relaxed and forgot about those following him. After a few minutes he realized that the noise of the horses and the enemy coming was receding. They moved into some other part of the mountains and were near him.

The King was very brave. He reorganized his army and fought again. He defeated the enemy and regained his empire. When he returned to his empire after victory, he was received with much fanfare. The whole capital was rejoicing in the victory. Everyone was in festive mood.
Flowers were being showered on King from every house, from every corner. People were dancing and singing. For a moment King said to himself,” I am one of the bravest and greatest King. It is not easy to defeat me. With all the reception and celebration he saw an ego emerging in him.

Suddenly the Diamond of his ring flashed in the sunlight and reminded him of the message. He open it and read it again: “THIS TOO SHALL PASS”.

He became silent. His face went through a total change -from the egoist he moved to a state of utter humbleness. If this too is going to pass, it is not yours. The defeat was not yours, the victory is not yours. You are just a watcher. Everything passes by. We are witnesses of all this. We are the perceivers. Life comes and goes. Happiness comes and goes. Sorrow comes and goes.

Now as you have read this story, just sit silently and evaluate your own life. This too will pass. Think of the moments of joy and victory in your life. Think of the moment of Sorrow and defeat. Are they permanent? They all come and pass away.

Life just passes away. There is nothing permanent in this world. Every thing changes except the law of change. Think over it from your own perspective. You have seen all the changes. You have survived all setbacks, all defeats and all sorrows. All have passed away. The problems in the present, they too will pass away. Because nothing remains forever. Joy and sorrow are the two faces of the same coin. They both will pass away.

You are just a witness of change. Experience it, understand it, and enjoy the present moment -
this too shall pass!

[DocW]

"What you bring forth out of yourself from the inside will save you. What you do not bring forth out of yourself from the inside will destroy you."
-- Gospel of Thomas

[DocW]

"Letting go of our suffering is the hardest work we will ever do. It is also the most fruitful. To heal means to meet ourselves in a new way -- in the newness of each moment where all is possible and nothing is limited to the old."
-- Stephen Levine

[BroNajimullah]

Good stuff DocW, I found them to be very thought provoking indeed. Thanks for sharing them with us.

Here is another thought provoking quote that I like very much:

"When you meet a man, you judge him by his clothes. When you leave a man, you judge him by his heart." - Russian Proverb.

[DocW]

Recently I overheard a Father and daughter in their last moments together at the airport. They had announced the departure.

Standing near the security gate, they hugged and the Father said, 'I love you, and I wish you enough.'

The daughter replied, 'Dad, our life together has been more than enough. Your love is all I ever needed. I wish you enough, too, Dad.'

They kissed and the daughter left. The Father walked over to the window where I was seated. Standing there I could see he wanted and needed to cry. I tried not to intrude on his privacy, but he welcomed me in by asking, 'Did you ever say good-bye to someone knowing it would be forever?'

'Yes, I have,' I replied. 'Forgive me for asking, but why is this a for ever good-bye?'.

'I am old, and she lives so far away. I have challenges ahead and the reality is - the next trip back will be for my funeral,' he said.

'When you were saying good-bye, I heard you say, 'I wish you enough.' May I ask what that means?'

He began to smile. 'That's a wish that has been handed down from other generations. My parents used to say it to everyone..' He paused a moment and looked up as if trying to remember it in detail, and he smiled even more. 'When we said, 'I wish you enough,' we were wanting the other person to have a life filled with just enough good things to sustain them.' Then turning toward me, he shared the following as if he were reciting it from memory.

I wish you enough sun to keep your attitude bright no matter how gray the day may appear.

I wish you enough rain to appreciate the sun even more.

I wish you enough happiness to keep your spirit alive and everlasting.

I wish you enough pain so that even the smallest of joys in life may appear bigger.

I wish you enough gain to satisfy your wanting.
I wish you enough loss to appreciate all that you possess.

I wish you enough hellos to get you through the final good- bye.

He then began to cry and walked away.

They say it takes a minute to find a special person, an hour to appreciate them, a day to love them; but then an entire life to forget them.

[DocW]

The best thing to give your enemy is forgiveness, to an opponent tolerance, to a friend your heart, to your child good example, to your father deference, to your mother a conduct that will make her proud of you, to yourself respect and to all men charity.

Wisdom and power follow endurance and patience

[DocW]

There are two ways of spreading light; to be the candle, or mirror that reflects it.

Edith Warton

[DocW]

How My Father Taught Me Non-Violence
--posted by Arun Gandhi

I was 16 years old and living with my parents at the institute my grandfather had founded 18 miles outside of Durban, South Africa, in the middle of the sugar plantations. We were deep in the country and had no neighbors, so my two sisters and I would always look forward to going to town to visit friends or go to the movies.

One day, my father asked me to drive him to town for an all-day conference, and I jumped at the chance. Since I was going to town, my mother gave me a list of groceries she needed and, since I had all day in town, my father asked me to take care of several pending chores, such as getting the car serviced. When I dropped my father off that morning, he said, 'I will meet you here at 5:00 p.m., and we will go home together.'

After hurriedly completing my chores, I went straight to the nearest movie theatre. I got so engrossed in a John Wayne double-feature that I forgot the time. It was 5:30 before I remembered. By the time I ran to the garage and got the car and hurried to where my father was waiting for me, it was almost 6:00. He anxiously asked me, 'Why were you late?' I was so ashamed of telling him I was watching a John Wayne western movie that I said, 'The car wasn't ready, so I had to wait,' not realizing that he had already called the garage. When he caught me in the lie, he said: 'There's something wrong in the way I brought you up that didn't give you the confidence to tell me the truth. In order to figure out where I went wrong with you, I'm going to walk home 18 miles and think about it.'

So, dressed in his suit and dress shoes, he began to walk home in the dark on mostly unpaved, unlit roads. I couldn't leave him, so for five-and-a-half hours I drove behind him, watching my father go through this agony for a stupid lie that I uttered.

I decided then and there that I was never going to lie again. I often think about that episode and wonder, if he had punished me the way we punish our children, whether I would have learned a lesson at all. I don't think so. I would have suffered the punishment and gone on doing the same thing. But this single non-violent action was so powerful that it is still as if it happened yesterday. That is the power of non-violence.

*** Arun Manilal Gandhi (born April 14, 1934, Durban, South Africa) is the fifth grandson of Mohandas Gandhi through his second son Manilal.

[DocW]

Amin Ahsen Islahi writes in Tadabbur ul Quran

"Faiz (awareness) is always given according to potential and ability. Allah pours rains everywhere on earth but the outcome is not the same everywhere. The earth that has potential; it grows lush greenary whilst waste land remains barren. Likewise knowledge of Quran is compared to rain of awareness and different people achive different outcomes from it. Those who keep their inborn abilities alive and read it open mindedly ; it opens their hearts to awareness, in contrast those who have closed their hearts and destroyed their in born abilities ;they will not be able to get any benefit from it. These people will loose the way not in darkness but in full daylight."

[DocW]

What makes me weak? My fears.
What makes me whole? My God.
What keeps me standing? My beliefs.
What makes me compassionate? My selflessness.
What makes me honest? My integrity.
What sustains my mind? My quest for knowledge.
What teaches me all lessons? My mistakes.
What lift's my head high? My pride, not arrogance.
What if I can't go on? Not an option.
What makes me victorious? My courage to climb.
What makes me competent? My confidence.
What makes me sensual? My insatiable essence.
What makes me beautiful? My everything.
What makes me a woman? My heart.
Who says I need love? I do.
What empowers me? Me.

[sheemae]

Salam DocW,

All your above thoughts are beautiful, they brought me close to :'( Your father seems like a wonderful man :)


What makes me weak? My fears.
What makes me whole? My God.
What keeps me standing? My beliefs.
What makes me compassionate? My selflessness.
What makes me honest? My integrity.
What sustains my mind? My quest for knowledge.
What teaches me all lessons? My mistakes.
What lift's my head high? My pride, not arrogance.
What if I can't go on? Not an option.
What makes me victorious? My courage to climb.
What makes me competent? My confidence.
What makes me sensual? My insatiable essence.
What makes me beautiful? My everything.
What makes me a woman? My heart.
Who says I need love? I do.
What empowers me? Me.

But this had the opposite affect on me :o You are a woman! I was sure you were a man!! No offence intended but the John Wayne comments clenched the diagnosis for me! How wrong I am! :giggling:

I will add one more:

What makes me blind? My assumptions.

Salam :rose:

[DocW]

Daily Hindu Wisdom

They are forever free who renounce all selfish desires and break away from the ego-cage of "I," "me," and "mine" to be united with the Lord. This is the supreme state. Attain to this, and pass from death to immortality.

- Bhagavad Gita 2:71-72

[DocW]

Salaam Sheemae

Always trust your instincts

I belong to the male gender

This was a quote from a female friend and not my own words

I am very grateful to Allah for my father and mother ( may Allah grant both of them Paradise)

I am grateful to you for taking the time to read my very humble thoughts

[DocW]

Tazkiya- purification by Amin Ahsen Islahi

Allah has created the soul of human beings in such a manner that He has endowed us with both; inclination as well as potential towards good and evil, in addition, he has also given us the intellect to distinguish between these two. He has then elucidated that the road to success entails us in choosing the path of good when we reach the cross roads of good and evil.

091.007-10
By the soul and Him who perfected it. And inspired it ( with conscience of ) what is wrong for it and ( what is ) right for it. He will indeed be successful who purifies it. And he will indeed fail who corrupts it.

According to Qur'an; The effort and strife to enhance goodness and to suppress evil with true intention is in essence the meaning as well as purpose of tazkiya or purification.

In Arabic language the meaning of Tazkiya not only entails cleansing something but in addition it entails growth and positive progression.

As such , purification of soul entails that we remove the negative beliefs and intentions from our inner selves, correct our incorrect morals and habits, remove the insensitivity and stagnation produced by the following of blind and old traditions and customs, cleanse the weakness and coward ness created by worldly desires and needs.

Thus our eyes can open , our minds can think, our strength can evolve and our habits could positively improve. With our in born potential corrected to follow the right path ; we could attain the heights of intellectual, moral and spiritual excellance, the potential for which is in born among us.

[DocW]

“Forgiveness is the economy of the heart ... forgiveness saves the expense of anger, the cost of hatred, the waste of spirits.”........Hannah Moore

[DocW]

Wisdom is knowing what to do next, skill is knowing how to do it, and virtue is doing it.
-- David Starr Jordan

[DocW]

A day will never be any more than what you make of it. Practice being a "doer." Take the time to practice the skills and abilities you want to attain. You must be the change you wish to see in the world. You are all creators. Be an artist and create something today. Whether it is physical or spiritual matters little, but the process of creating matters a lot.

[DocW]

Old age is like everything else. To make a success of it, you've got to start
young.
-- Fred Astaire

[DocW]

Yesterday is but a dream, and tomorrow is only a vision, but today well lived
makes every yesterday a dream of happiness and every tomorrow a vision of hope.

[DocW]

42:38. Those who hearken to their Lord, and establish regular Prayer; who (conduct) their affairs by mutual Consultation; who spend out of what We bestow on them for Sustenance;


Islahi states that the Islamic political and collective system is not based on egoism, arrogance, sectarianism or family superiority, albeit it has its basis in the mutual consultation of true believers. This contrasted with the system of government of the Quraish that was entirely based upon family and tribal distinction.

Why has aqaamat i salah been mentioned with the system of mutual conultation?


the real soul and heart of Islam's collective system ( Jamaati nizaam) is found in salah. The Muslims are told



1. how for Allah's obediance one needs to stand in His presence with utmost humility.



2. How one has to choose that person who is the most knowledgable and God fearing to be the Imam or leader.



3. How to be obediant to the imam as long as he remains within the parameter and bounderies of Allah's religion.



4.How the Imam is also duty bound that he does not command his subjects to do anything that is against the commandments of Allah or His messenger.



5. How even an ordinary muqtadi has a right to correct the Imam if he makes any mistakes in the salah and the imam is duty bound to accept the correction if it is in accordance with the shariah.

Thus the entire collective system is exemplified in namaz and our political system should be similarly replicated.

[DocW]

Life at its noblest leaves mere happiness far behind; and indeed cannot endure it. Happiness is not the object of life: life has no object: it is an end in itself; and courage consists in the readiness to sacrifice happiness for an
intenser quality of life.

-- George Bernard Shaw



Wise men are not wise at all hours, and will speak five times from their taste
or their humor, to once from their reason.

-- Ralph Waldo Emerson


A man, when he wishes, is the master of his fate.

-- Jose Ferrer

[DocW]

A discussion should be a genuine attempt to explore a subject rather than a battle between competing egos

[DocW]

Logic bubble: When we see a person do something we do not agree with , it is easy to label them as ignorant or malevolent. However the person may be acting logically within his own logic bubble. That bubble is made up of perception, values, needs and experiences of that person.

If you make a real effort to see inside that bubble and to see where that person is coming from; you will see the logic of that person's position.

OPV stands for see the other person's point of view. a lot of issues can resolve simply by doing an OPV on each other i.e. understanding the logic bubble of the other party.

Edward de Bono

[DocW]

An elephant can lift in excess of a ton of weight with just
its trunk. Still an elephant is conditioned to stay in one
place with a weak rope and a stake. Only a small rope tied
to its front leg holds an elephant. No chains, no cages. It
is obvious that the elephant can, at anytime, break away
from its bonds but for some reason, it does not. The reason
is that, when the elephant is a baby and much smaller, it is
tied to a strong chain and strong tree. The baby is weak but
the chain and tree are strong. The baby is not used to being
tied, so it keeps tugging and pulling the chain, in vain. A
day comes when it realizes that all the tugging and pulling
will not help and it gives up, thinking that it cannot break
away from the bond. It stops and stands still.
And when the baby elephant becomes the mighty giant
elephant, he is tied with a weak rope and a small stake. The
elephant could with one tug, walk away free, but it goes
nowhere because it has been conditioned to believe that it
cannot break away. It believes that the rope can still hold
it, so it never tries to break free.
REFLECTION: Like the elephants, we also go through life
hanging onto a belief that we cannot do something, simply
because we failed at it once before. We are also being held
back by old beliefs and avoid trying something new because
of a limiting belief about ourselves. At times, we are also
held back by someone else's limiting beliefs about
ourselves. Whatever we can conceive and believe, we can
achieve. .
Clarity of mind, due application, adequate skills, focus on
goal and lot of initiative are the means for accomplishing
things.

[sheemae]

Salam DocW :)


An elephant can lift in excess of a ton of weight with just
its trunk. Still an elephant is conditioned to stay in one
place with a weak rope and a stake. Only a small rope tied
to its front leg holds an elephant. No chains, no cages. It
is obvious that the elephant can, at anytime, break away
from its bonds but for some reason, it does not. The reason
is that, when the elephant is a baby and much smaller, it is
tied to a strong chain and strong tree. The baby is weak but
the chain and tree are strong. The baby is not used to being
tied, so it keeps tugging and pulling the chain, in vain. A
day comes when it realizes that all the tugging and pulling
will not help and it gives up, thinking that it cannot break
away from the bond. It stops and stands still.
And when the baby elephant becomes the mighty giant
elephant, he is tied with a weak rope and a small stake. The
elephant could with one tug, walk away free, but it goes
nowhere because it has been conditioned to believe that it
cannot break away. It believes that the rope can still hold
it, so it never tries to break free.
REFLECTION: Like the elephants, we also go through life
hanging onto a belief that we cannot do something, simply
because we failed at it once before. We are also being held
back by old beliefs and avoid trying something new because
of a limiting belief about ourselves. At times, we are also
held back by someone else's limiting beliefs about
ourselves. Whatever we can conceive and believe, we can
achieve. .
Clarity of mind, due application, adequate skills, focus on
goal and lot of initiative are the means for accomplishing
things.

That was nice :) Will ponder on that for sometime :)

Salam :)

[DocW]

A life is like a tree -- if you don't make it straight when its young and green, you'll never do it when it's old and dry.


As a Rose absorbs the nutrients it feeds on and as it thrives to see the sun as it must to survive...... the Rose becomes more beautiful and in turn will provide sunshine to those who can behold it's beauty. Fortunate is the Man who can see the Rose within a Woman. Blessed is the man who this Woman holds to be her nutrient, her sunshine.
-- Art Denton

[DocW]

We can commit ourselves to having our lives be great! Promises, tailored to our own needs or interests, can expand our satisfaction, stretch us, and be our personal standard for living successfully. Keeping our commitments supports us to live as the designer instead of the victim of our lives.

Not only can we generate renewed zest for life with promises, but we can also overcome anything that befalls us by committing ourselves to recovering from it. It's a funny thing about life: if you refuse to accept anything but the very best you will very often get it. [Tatelbaum, You Don't Have to Suffer]

Food for Thought:
I can forgive but I cannot forget, is only one way of saying, "I will not forgive." Forgiveness ought to be like a canceled note, torn into two, and burned up, so that it never can be shown against one. There is no revenge so complete as forgiveness. Forgiveness does not change the past, but it does enlarge the future.

If you are looking for a friend that is faultless, you will always be friendless. (Maulana Rumi)

[DocW]

At different stages in our lives, the signs of love may vary: dependence,
attraction, contentment, worry, loyalty, grief, but at heart the source is
always the same. Human beings have the rare capacity to connect with each other,
against all odds
-- Michael Dorris

[Yahya Sulaiman]

I can forgive but I cannot forget, is only one way of saying, "I will not forgive." Forgiveness ought to be like a canceled note, torn into two, and burned up, so that it never can be shown against one. There is no revenge so complete as forgiveness. Forgiveness does not change the past, but it does enlarge the future.

Two questions:

1. I'm not sure of the quote attribution. Was that one Maulana's quote too, and that's why it's left without an attribution above a quote attributed to Rumi?

2. Do you mind if I use this quote in an article I'm writing about why I reject Christianity's central doctrines?

[DocW]

Salaam Yahya bro

1. No it was contributed by Mrs Iffat Hassan

2. Of course not, so long it is attributed to its original source.

[DocW]

God gives and forgives

Man gets and forgets

[faithful]

Every punishment from Him is pure justice and every blessing from Him is pure grace.

[DocW]

Mental pleasure are never cloy; unlike those of the body, they are increased by repetition, approved by reflection, and strengthened by enjoyment.

-- Nathaniel Cotton

[Yahya Sulaiman]

All too often we find ourselves praying, "Please," a hundred times and, "Thank you," once if at all, when it should be the other way around.

[faithful]

All too often we find ourselves praying, "Please," a hundred times and, "Thank you," once if at all, when it should be the other way around.

ALLAH says: "If ye are grateful, I will add more (favours) unto you" [14 Ibrahim:7]
So whatever we do, we will still be unable to thank ALLAH.
SubhanALLAH how Merciful He is.

[DocW]

In learning to manage the forces around us, we let go of the wonder of life. We become intent on developing survival skills instead of stopping to appreciate the flowers or to love one another. In our drive for control, we forget pleasure and joy and satisfaction.

Even though we will always wish we could control life, we do not have to be run by these survival tactics. We can choose our responses to life. We can choose to have life be an energizing and provocative challenge that we take on powerfully rather than a series of ordeals of which we are victims. [Tatelbaum, You Don't Have to Suffer]

Food for Thought:
Anger is only one letter short of danger. Without discipline, there is no life at all. Man who would be man, must rule the empire of himself. He who conquers others is strong; he who conquers himself is mighty. Most powerful is he who has himself in his own power.

[DocW]

Change Your Thinking

It will take just 37 seconds to read this and change your thinking..

Two men, both seriously ill, occupied the same hospital room..

One man was allowed to sit up in his bed for an hour each afternoon to help drain the fluid from his lungs.

His bed was next to the room's only window....

The other man had to spend all his time flat on his back.

The men talked for hours on end.

They spoke of their wives and families, their homes, their jobs, their involvement in the military service, where they had been on vacation..

Every afternoon, when the man in the bed by the window could sit up, he would pass the time by describing to his roommate all the things he could see outside the window.

The man in the other bed began to live for those one hour periods where his world would be broadened and enlivened by all the activity and color of the world outside.

The window overlooked a park with a lovely lake.

Ducks and swans played on the water while children sailed their model boats. Young lovers walked arm in arm amidst flowers of every color and a fine view of the city skyline could be seen in the distance.

As the man by the window described all this in exquisite details, the man on the other side of the room would close his eyes and imagine this picturesque scene.

One warm afternoon, the man by the window described a parade passing by.

Although the other man could not hear the band - he could see it in his mind's eye as the gentleman by the window portrayed it with descriptive words.

Days, weeks and months passed.


One morning, the day nurse arrived to bring water for their baths only to find the lifeless body of the man by the window, who had died peacefully in his sleep.


She was saddened and called the hospital attendants to take the body away.

As soon as it seemed appropriate, the other man asked if he could be moved next to the window. The nurse was happy to make the switch, and after making sure he was comfortable, she left him alone.

Slowly, painfully, he propped himself up on one elbow to take his first look at the real world outside.
He strained to slowly turn to look out the window besides the bed.

It faced a blank wall..

The man asked the nurse what could have compelled his deceased roommate who had described such wonderful things outside this window.

The nurse responded that the man was blind and could not even see the wall.

She said, 'Perhaps he just wanted to encourage you.'

Epilogue:

There is tremendous happiness in making others happy, despite our own situations.

Shared grief is half the sorrow, but happiness when shared, is doubled.


If you want to feel rich, just count all the things you have that money can't buy.

'Today is a gift, that is why it is called The Present .'

[DocW]

Satisfaction is not necessarily found in our circumstances. It is not what happens in our lives as much as how we perceive what happens and how we live through what happens. How we view our lives and the events that occur is what makes all the difference in the quality that life has for us.

The pessimistic tortures himself, and the optimistic is delighted by and appreciative of the gift he receives. This can be true with each and every moment or event in our lives-------will we appreciate it or be disappointed? [Tatelbaum, You Don't Have to Suffer]

[Yahya Sulaiman]

Change Your Thinking

It will take just 37 seconds to read this and change your thinking..

Two men, both seriously ill, occupied the same hospital room..

One man was allowed to sit up in his bed for an hour each afternoon to help drain the fluid from his lungs.

His bed was next to the room's only window....

The other man had to spend all his time flat on his back.

The men talked for hours on end.

They spoke of their wives and families, their homes, their jobs, their involvement in the military service, where they had been on vacation..

Every afternoon, when the man in the bed by the window could sit up, he would pass the time by describing to his roommate all the things he could see outside the window.

The man in the other bed began to live for those one hour periods where his world would be broadened and enlivened by all the activity and color of the world outside.

The window overlooked a park with a lovely lake.

Ducks and swans played on the water while children sailed their model boats. Young lovers walked arm in arm amidst flowers of every color and a fine view of the city skyline could be seen in the distance.

As the man by the window described all this in exquisite details, the man on the other side of the room would close his eyes and imagine this picturesque scene.

One warm afternoon, the man by the window described a parade passing by.

Although the other man could not hear the band - he could see it in his mind's eye as the gentleman by the window portrayed it with descriptive words.

Days, weeks and months passed.


One morning, the day nurse arrived to bring water for their baths only to find the lifeless body of the man by the window, who had died peacefully in his sleep.


She was saddened and called the hospital attendants to take the body away.

As soon as it seemed appropriate, the other man asked if he could be moved next to the window. The nurse was happy to make the switch, and after making sure he was comfortable, she left him alone.

Slowly, painfully, he propped himself up on one elbow to take his first look at the real world outside.
He strained to slowly turn to look out the window besides the bed.

It faced a blank wall..

The man asked the nurse what could have compelled his deceased roommate who had described such wonderful things outside this window.

The nurse responded that the man was blind and could not even see the wall.

She said, 'Perhaps he just wanted to encourage you.'

Epilogue:

There is tremendous happiness in making others happy, despite our own situations.

Shared grief is half the sorrow, but happiness when shared, is doubled.


If you want to feel rich, just count all the things you have that money can't buy.

'Today is a gift, that is why it is called The Present .'

Funny to hear that as an inspirational tale. I heard it first as a horror story when I was a kid. It was in one of those Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark collections. And in that version of the story (as I remember) there are three guys, and one murders the next to get the window and he describes all the great things outside, and the third guy murders him...Very Rod Serling-ish.

[Sadiq_b]

A quote by Steve Jobs that I like...

Steve Jobs said: “Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma - which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of other’s opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.”

[DocW]

Ignorance is a voluntary misfortune.
-- Nicholas Ling


No man can climb out beyond the limitations of his own character.
-- John Morley

[DocW]

Law of the Garbage Truck

One day I hopped in a taxi and we took off for the airport. We were driving in the right lane when suddenly a black car jumped out of a parking space right in front of us. My taxi driver slammed on his brakes, skidded, and missed the other car by just inches!

The driver of the other car whipped his head around and started yelling at us. My taxi driver just smiled and waved at the guy. And I mean, he was really friendly. So I asked, 'Why did you just do that? This guy almost ruined your car and sent us to the hospital!' This is when my taxi driver taught me what I now call, 'The Law of the Garbage Truck.'

He explained that many people are like garbage trucks. They run around full of garbage, full of frustration, full of anger, and full of disappointment. As their garbage piles up, they need a place to dump it and sometimes they'll dump it on you. Don't take it personally, just smile, wave, wish them well, and move on. Don't take their garbage and spread it to other people at work, at home, or on the streets.

The bottom line is that successful people do not let garbage trucks take over their day. Life's too short to wake up in the morning with regrets, so...Love the people who treat you right. Pray for the ones who don't.

Life is ten percent what you make it and ninety percent how you take it! Have a blessed, garbage-free day!

[faithful]

Law of the Garbage Truck

One day I hopped in a taxi and we took off for the airport. We were driving in the right lane when suddenly a black car jumped out of a parking space right in front of us. My taxi driver slammed on his brakes, skidded, and missed the other car by just inches!

The driver of the other car whipped his head around and started yelling at us. My taxi driver just smiled and waved at the guy. And I mean, he was really friendly. So I asked, 'Why did you just do that? This guy almost ruined your car and sent us to the hospital!' This is when my taxi driver taught me what I now call, 'The Law of the Garbage Truck.'

He explained that many people are like garbage trucks. They run around full of garbage, full of frustration, full of anger, and full of disappointment. As their garbage piles up, they need a place to dump it and sometimes they'll dump it on you. Don't take it personally, just smile, wave, wish them well, and move on. Don't take their garbage and spread it to other people at work, at home, or on the streets.

The bottom line is that successful people do not let garbage trucks take over their day. Life's too short to wake up in the morning with regrets, so...Love the people who treat you right. Pray for the ones who don't.

Life is ten percent what you make it and ninety percent how you take it! Have a blessed, garbage-free day!

This is a beautiful lesson.
Thank you for sharing. :)

[faithful]

"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.

[DocW]

excellent post faithful, should it be Pluto rather than Plato

[faithful]

Thank you ^_^

Hmm... well.. i think this guy (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plato)is Plato, and he is the one who said that quote.

[DocW]

I apologise, my mistake and many thanks for the correction

[faithful]

You're welcome.

:)

[DocW]

Spirituality is the essence of life. It is the light that shines on our lives,

illuminating our paths, bringing light to the darkness, joy to the sorrow, and

meaning to the incomprehensible. And the essence of Spirituality? The essence of

spirituality is service. As one goes deeper and deeper on a spiritual path and as one

gets closer and closer to Realization and Enlightenment, one realizes that the

Divine resides in all. One begins to see God’s presence in every person, every

animal, and every plant.

The first line in the Ishopanishad says:

Isha vaasyamidam sarvam

yat kincha jagatyaam jagat

Tena tyaktena bhunjeethaa

Maa gradhah kasya svid dhanam

This mantra tells us that God is manifest in everything in the universe. All is Him,

and all is pervaded by Him. There is nothing which is not God.

Thus, when one realizes this Truth deep in one’s heart, one becomes filled with an

insatiable desire to care for and serve all of God’s creation. Typically, we sit in

our mandir (this is what Sharmi is engaged in right now) and ever-so-carefully bathe the deity of God. We

gingerly and lovingly perform the abhishek ceremony, caressing His body lovingly with sandlewood and

rose water, and adorning Him in the finest clothes. We offer food to Him before we eat; we distribute the

sweetest sweets as Prasad and we offer our hard earned money as “daan.”

However, as one’s spiritual path deepens and as one gets closer to the state of God

Realization, one sees God’s form in everything. Thus, the feelings of care, love,

sacrifice and devotion which we feel for the deity in the temple begin to blossom

in our heart for all of creation.

Every widow, every orphan, every homeless leper, every wandering, malnourished

animal, every deforested piece of land, every polluted river becomes as precious as

the marble image of Shiva or Krishna or Durga in our mandir. Thus, from our

hearts we are called to do as much as we can to remedy the world’s tragic situation.

[DocW]

I hear and I forget. I see and I believe. I do and I understand.
-- Confucious

[faithful]

My friend like this quote and I do like it too:

"I have learnt silence from the talkative, toleration from the intolerant, and kindness from the unkind; yet strange, I am so ungrateful to these teachers." Khalil Gibran

[DocW]

Daily Buddhist Wisdom

Someone who is about to admonish another must realize within himself five qualities before doing so [that he may be able to say], thus: "In due season will I speak, not out of season. In truth I will speak, not in falsehood. Gently will I speak, not harshly. To his profit will I speak, not to his loss. With kindly intent will I speak, not in anger."

- "Vinaya Pitaka," translated by F.S. Woodward

[DocW]

How false is the conception, how frantic the pursuit, of that treacherous phantom which men call Liberty: most treacherous, indeed, of all phantoms; for the feeblest ray of reason might surely show us, that not only its attainment, but its being, was impossible. There is no such thing in the universe. There can never be. The stars have it not; the earth has it not; the sea has it not; and we men have the mockery and semblance of it only for our heaviest punishment.

-- John Ruskin

[DocW]

Sherman made the terrible discovery that men make about their fathers sooner or later...that the man before him was not an aging father but a boy, a boy much like himself, a boy who grew up and had a child of his own and, as best he could, out of a sense of duty and, perhaps love, adopted a role called Being a Father so that his child would have something mythical and infinitely important: a Protector, who would keep a lid on all the chaotic and catastrophic possibilities of life. The Bonfire of the Vanities

-- Tom Wolfe

[DocW]

Appreciating all of life, we can see painful events as opportunities, for those are the moments that truly stretch us and expand us to grow and deepen beyond who we think ourselves to be. In what may seem the worst of times, when we face loss and death and tragedy, we discover our heroism, our courage, our love, our creativity, and our power. These seemingly catastrophic experiences are occasions to stretch ourselves beyond whoever we have been up to now, to play life full-out. They are profound challenges.

Real life hurts and disappoints. However, out of our willingness to live a real life, instead of trying to force life to fit our unrealistic pictures, we can expand and grow beyond our wildest dreams. The opportunity in life is to accept ALL of it. Yes, life hurts, but the pain does not last, especially if we are truly committed to letting go of our suffering. Now is the best time of all to let it go. [Tatelbaum, You Don't Have to Suffer]

Food for Thought:
The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenges and controversy. Experience is not what happens to a man, it is what a man does with that what happens to him. There is no education like adversity.

[DocW]

My definition of success is total self acceptance. We can obtain all of the material possessions we desire quite easily, however, attempting to change our deepest thoughts and learning to love ourselves is a monumental challenge. We may achieve success in our business lives but it never quite means as much if we do not feel good inside. Once we feel good about ourselves inside we can genuinely lend ourselves to others.

-- Franki

[DocW]

Guidance of the Day:
The most important element in overcoming the pains and crises of life is the willingness to take on the challenge that life is, instead of being a victim of your experiences. Next, you need to be conscious enough that you do not keep putting salt into your own wounds by dramatizing or personalizing, by living in the past, by being right about suffering, by withholding yourself, and so on.

Finally, you need to be complete with your experiences and to forgive and forget as soon as possible to free yourself to go on with your life. There is no way you can end up feeling like a victim of your experiences in life if you manage them with this kind of awareness of what it takes to recover and heal. [Tatelbaum, You Don't Have to Suffer]

Food for Thought:
You are never so strong as when you forgive. Life is an adventure in forgiveness, it is the sweetest revenge. The weak can never forgive, forgiveness is the attribute of the strong. He who cannot forgive others, breaks the bridge over which he must pass himself, for every man has need to be forgiven.

[Guest]

Keep up this posting. It renders my heart every time, when I read this thread from beginning to end. We all need these moments.

[DocW]

Guidance of the Day:

Be committed and willing to overcome whatever you are experiencing, whether you are facing an illness, a loss, a disturbing event, or whatever. That will give you a sense of power over your circumstances and will help you surmount whatever you have to confront. Remember that there is enormous power in taking the stand "I will" or "I can." Even if you don't believe these words right now, by starting to use them you can turn your life around.

Next you must be willing to let go of your pain and go on. Now that you know, it is your choice to let go of pain or not. You are not a victim, for you can choose how and how much you suffer. It is essential, then, that you examine any beliefs or ideas or history that keeps you from being willing to heal today. [Tatelbaum, You Don't Have to Suffer]

Food for Thought:

We must not.....ignore the small daily differences we can make which, overtime, add up to big differences that we often cannot foresee. The man who removes a mountain begins by carrying away small stones. A terrace nine stories high begins with a pile of earth. The distance doesn't matter only the first step is difficult.

[faithful]

... It renders my heart every time, when I read this thread from beginning to end...

Same here!

[DocW]

Guidance of the Day:
Sometimes love may be difficult to recognize because it has a different manner of revealing itself to and through each person. To expect others to love in the same way you do at the moment is unrealistic and even foolish. Only you are you. Only you can respond to love, can give love, and can feel love as you do. The adventure lies in the discovery of love in yourself and in others. The excitement comes from understanding what love is, rather than what you insist it must be.

One of the most difficult concepts to grasp is that love lives in the present moment. Unfortunately, most of us are either struck in yesterday or anxiously waiting for tomorrow. We have lost sight of the present moment. We must remember that life is a process, not the goal. Life is all about striving to get there and enjoying the journey, not simply the arrival. In life and love, there is only that moment, the now. The only reality we know is what we experience this very second. Reality is not what has passed or what has yet to come into being. Grabbing hold of this simple idea makes life magical because it brings love alive. This understanding does not mean, however, that we should strive to live for the moment. It does mean that we should strive to live in the moment, which is very difficult. [Handbook for the Heart]

[DocW]

Perseverance often comes through strong will. There is no failure except in no longer trying. There is no defeat except from within, no really insurmountable barrier save our own inherent weakness of purpose. Consider the postage stamp, it secures success through its ability to stick to one thing till it gets there.

[DocW]

Wisdom is not the amassing of knowledge. Wisdom is truth lived. From this day on, begin to foster a belief that you were born for a reason, and although you may not have yet discovered the specifics of that reason, you are being prepared to fulfill it in every moment. In general terms, you know that your essential purpose is to grow, change, develop, and become the-best-version-of-yourself. It is this process of growth that makes life interesting, exciting, rewarding, and fulfilling. Dedication to this process of growth is greatness. Greatness should never be confused with fame, fortune, status, or power. These are only passing illusions. Greatness is to become more fully aware of your self with each passing day.

A chance for greatness awaits you----your chance at greatness----and it will involve unique and providential blend of your needs, talents, and desires. The pursuit of your chance at greatness will reveal you to your family, friends, colleagues, spouse, children, and everyone who crosses your path. It is the attuning of your personality. Life is a revelation of self. Life is an unfolding story. Your life is your story. Life is a gift to you and for you----and yet, in a paradoxical but complimentary way, it is also your chance to serve your neighbor, to touch and enrich the lives of others, and to make a difference in this sometimes weary world. This is the mystery of God----to lead you toward your perfection and fulfillment, while at the same time using your journey to lead others toward their perfection and fulfillment. [Kelly, The Rhythm of Life]

Wise Quote of the Day:
It is in giving that we receive
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned
It is in surrendering that we are born a new

[DocW]

Patience and perseverance have a magical effect before which difficulties disappear and obstacles vanish.

-- John Quincy Adams

[DocW]

Learning to forgive and forget is essential. Remembering pain keeps it alive, perpetuates it. Forgive and forget everything from the past, so that you are free to be fully alive to today. Complete everything. Forget the source of the pain, for it really doesn't matter anymore. It is never too late to forgive or to say goodbye to experiences or events or people from the past.

Say whatever you need to say and do whatever you need to do, but be sure you have no unfinished business with the past. In doing so, you will give yourself the enormous freedom to live fully present to today, and the possibility of living a great life. The willingness to be open and awake to life, to engage wholeheartedly in life, and to live with passion means that you will reach enormous depths and expanses of human experiences. And sometimes life will hurt. But know that you have what it takes to recover yourself quickly. You don't have to suffer. NOW ENJOY YOURSELF! [Tatelbaum, You Don't Have to Suffer]

Food for Thought:
Live everyday as if it were your last.
Do every job as if you were the boss.
Drive as if all other vehicles were police cars.
Treat everybody else as if he were you.

[Guest]

Treat everybody else as if he were you.I've always tried to work with this:

Treat everybody else how they would like to be treated.

[Yahya Sulaiman]

The way the Prophet (P) put it was, "None of you will have faith until he likes for his brother what he likes for himself."

[DocW]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Bcxwhzyh7c

[DocW]

To advise is an easy matter, the difficulty is accepting advice, since it is bitter for those who follow their own inclinations and desires. [Imam Ghazali]

Guidance of the Day:
You must strengthen and improve your certainty. For when certainty prevails in the heart and establishes itself therein the unseen becomes as if seen and the man aided by providence says, as Ali, may God ennoble his face, said: "Were the cover to be removed, I would not increase in certainty."

Certainty is power, firmness and stability of faith so great that it becomes as a towering mountain which no doubts can shake and no illusions rock. Rather, doubts and illusions disappear completely, and when they come from outside are neither listened to by the ear nor heeded by the heart. The Devil cannot approach the possessor of such certainty; he flees from him, fears from his shadow, and is content to keep at a safe distance. [Al-Haddad, The Book of Assistance]

Food for Thought:
Be charitable in your thoughts, in your speech, and in your actions. Give what you have to give. Small acts of care and grace can mean more than you ever dare to think. There is tremendous happiness in making others happy, despite our own situation.

Contentment is natural wealth,
Luxury is artificial poverty.

[DocW]

Knowledge is that which, next to virtue, truly raises one person above another.
-- Joseph Addison

[faithful]

Contentment is natural wealth,
Luxury is artificial poverty.

I like!!!!

[-Farrah-]

The true measure of a man is how he treats someone who can do him absolutely no good.
[Samuel Johnson]

[vinod]

"Romance" is rape embellished with meaningful looks, while dating was about the "rapist" bothering to “buy a bottle of wine”
Andrea Dowrkin

[Yahya Sulaiman]

A meditation on courage (from myself, not quoting anyone):

The importance of courage is evidenced by the universal derision of its inverse vice. Cowardice alone of all evils is despised by all both when they perceive it in themselves and when they perceive it in others. Any other sin can be acclimated to or even praised. There are people who take pride in their spite, cherish their envy, find refuge in their prejudice--but no one likes, likes to be, or likes to be called, a coward. The evillest people in the world detest yellowbellies at least as much as the noblest of people--maybe more so. That proves, I suspect, that courage, in some capacity and to some degree, must exist in all of us, for one cannot relish a virtue so much without having had some experience with it, one cannot have experience with a virtue without the capacity to exercise it, and the capacity to exercise courage never truly disappears. You don't create courage. It's already there and you just have to reach in there and pull it out. Now that's not to say that it can't be increased in some respects, just as a fire the embers of which never die can always be fanned to rise higher and burn brighter than they ordinarily would, if you put enough effort into it and have the right tools. But it's there in all of us. The cowardliest person who ever lived may have been just as capable of courage as anyone else. He or she just did less with what he or she had than anyone else.

[DocW]

Do not dispute with anyone in any matter as far as possible. For in argument lies much harm and its evil is greater than its benefit. [Imam Ghazali]

Guidance of the Day:
You must improve the soundness and sincerity of your intentions, examine them, and reflect well before embarking on your actions. For intentions are the bases of deeds; according to them your deeds will either be good or ugly, sound or unsound. You must, therefore, utter no word, do no action, and decide no matter without the intention of drawing nearer thereby to God and seeking the reward He has assigned, through his beneficence and grace, to the intended act.

Food for Thought:
When everything seems to be going against you, remember that the air plane takes off against the wind, not with it. Difficulties are meant to rouse, not discourage. The human spirit is to grow strong by conflict.

[sheemae]

Salam brother Doc :p


Do not dispute with anyone in any matter as far as possible. For in argument lies much harm and its evil is greater than its benefit. [Imam Ghazali]

Guidance of the Day:
You must improve the soundness and sincerity of your intentions, examine them, and reflect well before embarking on your actions. For intentions are the bases of deeds; according to them your deeds will either be good or ugly, sound or unsound. You must, therefore, utter no word, do no action, and decide no matter without the intention of drawing nearer thereby to God and seeking the reward He has assigned, through his beneficence and grace, to the intended act.

Food for Thought:
When everything seems to be going against you, remember that the air plane takes off against the wind, not with it. Difficulties are meant to rouse, not discourage. The human spirit is to grow strong by conflict.

That was beautiful. :D
Thank you for the post :)

Salam :)

[DocW]

A quitter never wins, and a winner never quits

-- Source Unknown

[DocW]

Maturity is the ability to control anger, and settle differences without violence or destruction.
Maturity is patience, the willingness to give up immediate pleasure in favor of the long-term gain. Maturity is perseverance, sweating out a project despite setbacks. Maturity is the capacity to face unpleasantness and disappointment without becoming bitter.

[DocW]

Everyone has a fair turn to be as great as he pleases.

-- Jeremy Collier

[DocW]

Maturity is humility. A mature person is able to say, "I was wrong." And when he is proved right, he does not have to say, "I told you so." Maturity means dependability, integrity, keeping one's word. Maturity is the ability to live in peace with things we cannot change

[-Farrah-]

"A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on."
~ Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965)

[aamantubillah]

lol...but once truth gets it pants on, it de-pants the lie..shaming it in front of everyone. :)

[DocW]

The true measure of a man is how he treats someone who can do him absolutely no good.
[Samuel Johnson]

Salaam sister Farrah

Excellent post Manyt hanks for sharing this.

best wishes

Waseem

[DocW]

We are made strong by the difficulties we face not by those we evade.
-- Source Unknown

[-Farrah-]

"Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted."

~Albert Einstein (1879-1955)

[DocW]

That's the thing about faith. If you don't have it you can't understand it. And if you do, no explanation is necessary

-- Major Kira Nerys

[-Farrah-]

"All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident."

~ Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860)

[DocW]

Motherhood: all love begins and ends there.
Thank her for it
And live your life with the love she bestowed on you, then share that love with all,
The gift of love is a mother's greatest gift.
Appreciate, respect, and acknowledge this.

Have faith and be certain in the knowledge that your daily bread does not depend upon any mortal, but upon God who created all. [al Hajwiri]

[-Farrah-]

"Some cause happiness wherever they go; others, whenever they go." :giggling:

~ Oscar Wilde (1854-1900)

[D.grind]

my bad. Thought you meant Christian since you used "apocalypse" , "heaven" & "hell".

But then I would say "the good place" since the people you are talking about would probably constitute retards and children. Do not think anyone over 6 except retards are neither good or bad. Even though the concepts of good and bad are up for discussion.

I am an idiot. Thank you.

[vinod]

Spams sure are being made creative (creatively nonsensical to be precise) these days.

[Ratatosk]

Yep. Plus nowadays they're adding pictures and ICQ profiles and home pages and whatnot. More active than many of our members, they are. :comma:
This baby was from Césis in Latvia. The first one we've had from the Baltic states.

[DocW]

Dr. Phil McGraw : ''I still hear my father's voice in times of trial :''Son, be the man God intended. To whom much is given, much is expected and you have been blessed immensely.''

[DocW]

''It has been said that our children are messages that we are sending to a future we may never see; that may be, but our children will see it, our children will live it. Create for them a chance by leading your family with passion and commitment. and when you do, God will smile."

[DocW]

Beware, O brother, of doing in secret that which if seen by people would make you ashamed and worried about being censured. If you cannot make your inward better than your outward, the least that you can do is to make them equal, so that you behave equally well privately and publicly in obeying God's injunctions, avoiding His prohibitions, respecting what He has made sacred, and hastening to please Him. This is the first step a servant takes on the path of special knowledge. Know this! Success is from God. [Al-Haddad, The Book of Assistance]

Food for Thought:
Never forget the three powerful resources you always have available to you----love, prayer and forgiveness. As long as you don't forgive, who and whatever will occupy rent free space in your mind. Resentment is one burden that is incompatible with your success, always be the first to forgive.

[DocW]

"One who does not thank the created, has not thanked the creator".

[DocW]

An ounce of practice is worth a pound of precept

[DocW]

Ah, great it is to believe the dream as we stand in youth by the starry stream; but a greater thing is to fight life through and say at the end, the dream is true!

-- Edwin Markham

[DocW]

If you can't be a pine on the top of the hill,
Be a scrub in the valley-but be
The best little scrub by the side of the rill;
Be a bush if you can't be a tree.

If you can't be a bush be a bit of the grass,
And some highway happier make;
If you can't be a muskie then just be a bass
But the liveliest bass in the lake!

We can't all be captains, we've got to be crew,
There's something for all of us here,
There's big work to do, and there's lesser to do,
And the task you must do is the near.

If you can't be a highway then just be a trail,
If you can't be the sun be a star;
It isn't by size that you win or you fail
Be the best of whatever you are!

[sheemae]

Salam borther Doc :)


If you can't be a pine on the top of the hill,
Be a scrub in the valley-but be
The best little scrub by the side of the rill;
Be a bush if you can't be a tree.

If you can't be a bush be a bit of the grass,
And some highway happier make;
If you can't be a muskie then just be a bass
But the liveliest bass in the lake!

We can't all be captains, we've got to be crew,
There's something for all of us here,
There's big work to do, and there's lesser to do,
And the task you must do is the near.

If you can't be a highway then just be a trail,
If you can't be the sun be a star;
It isn't by size that you win or you fail
Be the best of whatever you are!

This is beautiful. My mother has always chanted this mantra to us, since we were little :)

Salam :)

EDIT: Thank you for the post!! :)

[DocW]

Be thorough in all you do; and remember that although ignorance often may be innocent, pretension is always despicable.
-- William E. Gladstone


A man who is contented with what he has done will never become famous for what he will do.
-- Fred Estabrook


Love conquers all.
-- Virgil


Ordinary riches can be stolen, real riches cannot. In your soul are infinitely
precious things that cannot be taken from you.
-- Oscar Wilde

[DocW]

Forgiveness asked with a sincere heart and a firm comitment of correction is, inshallah , never turned away by God

Moiz Amajd

[DocW]

A truly great book should be read in youth, again in maturity and once more in old age, as a fine building should be seen by morning light, at noon and by
moonlight.

-- Robertson Davies


Education is a better safeguard of liberty than a standing army.
-- Edward Everett

[DocW]

There are many fine things which you mean to do some day, under what you think will be more favorable circumstances. But the only time that is yours is the present. Don't wait until your time is almost up to call home and say, "I love you." Don't bring flowers to the grave; rather, bring them home or send them to the person who is precious to you today.

Practice patience; it is the essence of praise.
Have patience, for that is true worship.
No other worship is worth as much.
Have patience; Patience is the key to all relief. [Mawlana Rumi]

[DocW]

It does not require great learning to be a Christian and be convinced of the
truth of the Bible. It requires only an honest heart and a willingness to obey
God
-- Albert Coombs Barnes

If you think practicing what you preach is rough, just try preaching what you
practice.
-- Bowen Baxter


Bullets cannot be recalled. They cannot be uninvented. But they can be taken out
of the gun.
-- Martin Amis

[DocW]

A little less complaint and whining, and a little more dogged work and manly striving, would do us more credit than a thousand civil rights bills.
-- W. E. B. Dubois


The road to success is lined with many tempting parking spaces
-- Source Unknown

[DocW]

Don?t judge each day by the harvest you reap but by the seeds that you plant.
-- Robert Louis Stevenson


The greatest disorder of the mind is to let Will direct it.
-- Louis Pasteur

[DocW]

Bad times have a scientific value. These are occasions a good learner would not miss. All life is an experiment. No great man complains of want of opportunity. Our greatest glory is not in never failing but rising up every time we fail.

[DocW]

A thoroughbred business man cannot enter heartily upon the business of life without first looking into his accounts.

-- Henry David Thoreau

[DocW]

You should have a wird (any spiritual work which is done on regular basis) of reflection in every twenty-four hours. Know that the state of one's religious and worldly affairs depends upon the soundness of one's reflection. Anyone who has a share of it has an abundant share of everything good. It has been said: 'An hour's reflection is better than a year's worship.' and 'Reflection is the lamp of the heart; if it departs the heart will have no light.'

Know that you must reflect on this worldly life, its numerous preoccupations, hazards, and the swiftness with which it perishes, and upon the hereafter, and its felicity and permanence. You should reflect on the imminence of death and the regret and remorse which occur when it is too late.

You should reflect on those attributes and acts by which God has described His friends and His enemies, and on the immediate and delayed rewards which He has prepared for each group, so that you come to love the fortunate, habituate yourself to emulating their behavior and taking on their qualities, and detest the wretched, and habituate yourself to avoiding their behavior and traits of character. [Al-Haddad, The Book of Assistance]

Food for Thought:
When you work seven days a week, fourteen hours a day, you get lucky. You have to be in a position for luck to happen. Luck doesn't go around looking for a stumblebum. Get as much experience as you can, so that you're ready when luck works. That's the luck.

If you stay patient when moved to anger and forgive a wrong, Allah will protect you as His close friend; only your foes will be disgraced. [al Hadith]

[DocW]

When things in your life seem, almost too much to handle,
When 24 Hours in a day is not enough,
Remember the mayonnaise jar and 2 cups of coffee.

A professor stood before his philosophy class
and had some items in front of him.
When the class began, wordlessly,
He picked up a very large and empty mayonnaise jar
And proceeded to fill it with golf balls.

He then asked the students, if the jar was full.
They agreed that it was.

The professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured
them into the jar. He shook the jar lightly.
The pebbles rolled into the open Areas between the golf balls.

He then asked the students again if the jar was full. They agreed it was.

The professor next picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar.
Of course, the sand filled up everything else.
He asked once more if the jar was full. The students responded with a unanimous 'yes.'

The professor then produced two cups of coffee from under the table and poured the entire contents into the jar, effectively
filling the empty space between the sand. The students laughed.

'Now,' said the professor, as the laughter subsided,
'I want you to recognize that this jar represents your life.
The golf balls are the important things - family,
children, health, Friends, and Favourite passions –
Things that if everything else was lost and only they remained, Your life would still be full.

The pebbles are the other things that matter like your job, house, and car.

The sand is everything else --The small stuff.

'If you put the sand into the jar first,' He continued,
there is no room for the pebbles or the golf balls.
The same goes for life.

If you spend all your time and energy on the small stuff,
You will never have room for the things that are important to you.

So...

Pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness.
There will always be time to clean the house and fix the disposal.

'Take care of the golf balls first --
The things that really matter.
Set your priorities. The rest is just sand.'

One of the students raised her hand and inquired what the coffee represented.

The professor smiled.
'I'm glad you asked'.

It just goes to show you that no matter how full your life may seem,
there's always room for a couple of cups of coffee with a friend.'

Please share this with other "Golf Balls" .

[DocW]

Worshipping at times of tribulations and confusion is like migrating to join me. [Muslim]

Know that hastening to acts of goodness, being careful with acts of worship and persevering in obedience, constitute the way of the Prophets and Saints, both at the beginning and end of their affair, for they are the creatures with the most knowledge of God, and it is therefore not surprising that they are the most worshipful, obedient, and fearful of Him (Mighty and Majestic is He!)

The attentiveness of a servant is equal to his love of his Lord. Love is consequent upon knowledge: in as much as God's servant grows more knowledgeable of Him, so also shall he love Him more and worship Him more abundantly. If you become too busy amassing worldly things and following passions to have awrad (spiritual works) and keep to acts of worship, strive to give your Lord an hour at the end of the day when you occupy yourself with glorifying Him, asking forgiveness, and other kinds of devotions. [Al-Haddad, The Book of Assistance]


We should worship as though the Deity were present. If our mind is not engaged in our worship, it is as though we worshipped not. It is only when men begin to worship that they begin to grow. Worship is the act of rising to a personal, experimental consciousness of the real presence of God which floods the soul with joy, and bathes the whole inward spirit with refreshing streams of life.

[DocW]

We would never learn to be brave and patient if there were only joy in the world.

-- Helen Keller

[DocW]

We are all dust and clay until we find inspiration in our lives. When we are inspired, we change the world, not by changing others, but by changing ourselves. If everyone on this planet felt inspired and breathed life into each other, we would have a world of companionship and love. Inspire deeply for yourself and all those in your life.

[DocW]

The greatest use of life is to spend it for something that will outlast it. The one thing worth living for is to keep one's soul pure. The proper function of man is to live-----not to exist. The purpose of life is to be useful, to be responsible, to be honorable, to be compassionate. It is after all, to have made some difference that you lived at all.

[Yahya Sulaiman]

We should worship as though the Deity were present.

As though??

[DocW]

HOW TO STAY YOUNG

1. Throw out nonessential numbers. This includes age, weight and height. Let the doctors worry about them. That is why you pay 'them'

2. Keep only cheerful friends. The grouches pull you down.

3. Keep learning. Learn more about the computer, crafts, gardening, whatever. Never let the brain idle. 'An idle mind is the devil's workshop.'

4. Enjoy the simple things.

5. Laugh often, long and loud. Laugh until you gasp for breath.

6. The tears happen. Endure, grieve, and move on. The only person, who is with us our entire life, is ourselves. Be ALIVE while you are alive.

7. Surround yourself with what you love , whether it's family, pets, keepsakes, music, plants, hobbies, whatever. Your home is your refuge.

8. Cherish your health: If it is good, preserve it. If it is unstable, improve it. If it is beyond what you can improve, get help.

9. Don't take guilt trips. Take a trip to the mall, even to the next county; to a foreign country but NOT to where the guilt is.

10. Tell the people you love that you love them, at every opportunity.

AND ALWAYS REMEMBER:
Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away.

Worry about nothing, pray about everything!!!

[DocW]

Quote:
Originally Posted by DocW
We should worship as though the Deity were present.

As though??

Salaam bro Yahya

In my very humble and limited knowledge this refers to the hadith Muslim 93

"Ihsaan is that you worship Allah as if you are seeing Him. This is because If you are not seeing Him , He is seeing you."

[Endymion]

Dont compare yourself with others.

[Endymion]

Solutions

[Endymion]

Life.

[Endymion]

Mistakes.

[Endymion]

Successful ending.

[Endymion]

Worry.

[Endymion]

Opportunity.

[Endymion]

Change.

[Endymion]

Mistakes.

[DocW]

Thank you God for this good life and forgive us if we don't love it enough. What power has love than forgiveness. One forgives to the degree one loves. Forgiveness is the final form of love. To err is human, to forgive is divine, to continue in sin is devilish. Forgiveness is the fragrance that violet sheds on the heel of the one that crushed it.

[DocW]

The sword conquered for a while, but the spirit conquers for ever!

-- Sholem Asch

[DocW]

When a man begins to understand himself, he begins to live. A humble knowledge of oneself is a surer road to God than a deep searching of the sciences. Knowing others is wisdom, knowing yourself is Enlightenment. The life which is unexamined is not worth living.
Self-knowledge is the beginning of self-improvement.

Once the ego is overcome peace follows. (Sheikh Abdul Qadir Jilani)

[Endymion]

Where to tap


Ever heard the story of the giant ship engine that failed? The ship's owners tried one expert after another, but none of them could figure but how to fix the engine.


Then they brought in an old man who had been fixing ships since he was a youngster.


He carried a large bag of tools with him, and when he arrived, he immediately went to work. He inspected the engine very carefully, top to bottom.




Two of the ship's owners were there, watching this man, hoping he would know what to do. After looking things over, the old man reached into his bag and pulled out a small hammer.


He gently tapped something. Instantly, the engine lurched into life.


He carefully put his hammer away. The engine was fixed! A week later, the owners received a bill from the old man for ten thousand dollars.


"What?!" the owners exclaimed. "He hardly did anything!"


So they wrote the old man a note saying, "Please send us an itemized bill."


The man sent a bill that read:


Tapping with a hammer .. $ 2.00

Knowing where to ......... $ 9998.00


***********


Effort is important, but knowing where to make an effort in your life makes all the difference.


***********

[DocW]

True wisdom is less presuming than folly. The wise man doubteth often, and changeth his mind; the fool is obstinate, and doubteth not; he knoweth all things but his own ignorance.
-- Akhenaton

We have no problems, only situations. Not all problems have solutions, but all situations have outcomes.
-- John E. Gray

[DocW]

Some things are easier to legalize than to legitimate.
-- Sebastien-Roch Nicolas De Chamfort


He who is everywhere is nowhere.
-- Latin Proverb


Self-reliance is the only road to true freedom, and being one's own person is
its ultimate reward.

-- Patricia Sampson


I don't believe people die from hard work. They die from stress and worry and
fear -- the negative emotions. Those are the killers, not hard work. The fact
is, in our society today, most people don't understand what hard work is all
about.
-- A.L. Williams

[DocW]

Half the things that people do not succeed in are through fear of making the attempt.
-- James Northcote

The greatest amount of wasted time is the time not getting started.
-- Dawson Trotman

I love you not only for what you are, but for what I am when I am with you
-- Roy Croft

[DocW]

There are two kinds of statistics, the kind you look up, and the kind you make up.
-- Rex Stout


Education is too important to be left solely to the educators.
-- Francis Keppel


The world is round and the place which may seem like the end may also be the beginning.
-- Ivy Baker Priest

[DocW]

USED vs. LOVE


While a man was polishing his new car,
his 4 yr old son picked up a stone
and scratched lines on the side of the car.

In anger, the man took the child's hand
and hit it many times not realizing
he was using a wrench.

At the hospital, the child lost all his fingers
due to multiple fractures.

When the child saw his father.....
with painful eyes he asked, 'Dad when will my fingers grow back?'
The man was so hurt and speechless;
he went back to his car and kicked it a lot of times.

Devastated by his own actions......
sitting in front of that car he looked at the scratches;
the child had written 'LOVE YOU DAD'.
The next day that man committed suicide. . .

Anger and Love have no limits;
choose the latter to have a beautiful, lovely
life & remember this:
Things are to be used and people are to be loved.
The problem in today's world is
that people are used while things are loved.

Let's try always to keep this thought in mind:




Things are to be used,
People are to be loved.




Watch your thoughts; they become words.
Watch your words; they become actions.
Watch your actions; they become habits.
Watch your habits; they become character;
Watch your character; it becomes your destiny.

[DocW]

Dance like no one is watching, Love like you'll never be hurt, Sing like no one is listening, Live like it's heaven on earth.

-- William Purkey

[DocW]

You must take care of your outward and inward cleanliness, for the one who is completely clean becomes inwardly and in his spirit a spiritual angel, although in his body and outward form he remains a physical human being. Inward cleanliness is achieved by purifying the soul from vile traits of character such as pride, ostentation, envy, love of the world, and other similar things, and by adorning it with noble traits of character such as humility, modesty, sincerity, generosity, and so forth.

As for outward cleanliness, this depends on avoiding transgressions, and keeping to obedience. The one who adorns his outward with perseverance in good works, and his inward with taking on praiseworthy attributes, has completed his cleanliness. Otherwise, he would only have a share of it proportionate to his remoteness from reprehensible traits and acts, and nearness to good ones. [Al-Haddad, The Book of Assistance]

Food for Thought:
When God measures a man, He puts the tape around the heart instead of the head. A proud man has no God; the envious man has no neighbor; the angry man has not himself. What good then, is being a man, if one has neither himself nor a neighbor nor God.

Whatever you lost through the stroke of destiny, know it was to save you from adversity. One small affliction keeps off greater afflictions; one small loss prevents greater losses. [Mawlana Rumi]

[DocW]

No one becomes perfect, but some become great.
-- Source Unknown


Only cat lovers know the luxury of fur-coated, musical hot water bottles that never go cold.
-- Susanne Millen


My test of a good novel is dreading to begin the last chapter.
-- Thomas Helm


Some people expect the door of opportunity to be opened with an electric eye.
-- Howard Hendricks

[DocW]

Ritual prayer is a purification for hearts and an opening-up of the door of the invisible domains.

Ritual prayer is the place of intimate conversations and a mine of reciprocal acts of purity wherein the regions of innermost being are expanded.

He knew the existence of weakness in you, so He made the number of ritual prayers small; and He knew of your need of His grace, so He multiplied their fruitful results. [Above quotes by Ibn Ata' Allah]

[DocW]

Today, see if you can stretch your heart and expand your love so that it touches not only those to whom you can give it easily, but also those who need it so much.
-- Daphne Rose Kingma

[DocW]

When a child feels that he is wrapped in the warm, secure belief that he will do well, he is actually able to do better than he knows.His defenses are relaxed;his guard down.he is able to stop spending emotional energy protecting himself from the possible hurts of failure.Instead he spends his energy reaching for the possible rewards of success.He is relaxed.Confidence has had an effect on his ability.It has brought out the best in him."My mother was the making of me" said Edison.

Napoleon Hill says: "When I was a youngster,whenever a cow was let loose from her pasture, or a drain broken,or a tree cut down mysteriously, it was young Napoleon Hill who was suspected.My own mother was dead, and my father and brothers thought I was bad, so I really was pretty bad. If people considered me this way, I was not going to disappoint them.
And then one day, my father announced that he was going to remarry. Iwas determined that no new mother coming into our house would be able to find a place in my heart. And when this strange woman entered our home, she went around greeting everybody cheerfully., until she came to me. "And this is Napoleon," my father said,"the worst boy in the hills."
And with that, I will never forget what my stepmother said. She looked at me straight in the eye, and said what I will hold dear forever. ' The worst boy? Not at all. He's just the brightest boy in these hills, and all we have to do is to bring out the best in him."

[DocW]

Character is doing the right thing when nobody's looking. There are too many people who think that the only thing that's right is to get by, and the only thing that's wrong is to get caught.
-- J. C. Watts

There are no exceptions to the rule that everybody likes to be an exception to the rule.
-- Charles Osgood


The haste of a fool is the slowest thing in the world.
-- Thomas Shadwell

[DocW]

You don't develop courage by being happy in your relationships everyday. You develop it by surviving difficult times and challenging adversities. Building a relationship takes work. It is an ordeal and struggle because two people are giving birth to this new entity, and labor pains hurt. Build your relationships out of love and hold them together with a sense of humor.

[DocW]

Why does God gives us problems

The problems you face will either defeat you or develop you - depending on how you respond to them. Unfortunately, most people fail to see how God wants to use problems for good in their lives. They react foolishly and resent their problems rather than pausing to consider what benefit they might bring.

Here are five ways God wants to use the problems in your life:

1. God uses problems to DIRECT you.
Sometimes God must light a fire under you to get you moving. Problems often point us in a new direction and motivate us to change. Is God trying to get your attention? "Sometimes it takes a painful situation to make us change our ways."

2. God uses problems to INSPECT you.
People are like tea bags...if you want to know what's inside them, just drop them into hot ever water! Has God tested your faith with a problem What do problems reveal about
you? "When you have many kinds of troubles, you should be full of joy, because you know that these troubles test your faith, and this will give you patience."

3. God uses problems to CORRECT you.
Some lessons we learn only through pain and failure. It's likely that as a child your parents told you not to touch a hot stove.... But you probably learned by being burned. Sometimes we only learn the value of something... health, money, a relationship. .. by losing it. "It was the best thing that could have happened to me, for it taught me to pay attention to your laws."

4. God uses problems to PROTECT you.
A problem can be a blessing in disguise if it prevents you from being harmed by something more serious. Last year a friend was fired for refusing to do something unethical that his boss had asked him to do. His unemployment was a problem - but it saved him from being convicted and sent to prison a year later when management's actions were eventually discovered. "You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good...

5. God uses problems to PERFECT you.
Problems, when responded to correctly, are character builders. God is far more interested in your character than your comfort. Your relationship to God and your character are the only two things you're going to take with you into eternity. "We can rejoice when we run into problems...they help us learn to be patient. And patience develops strength of characer in us and helps us trust God more each time we use it until finally our hope and faith are strong and steady."


Here's the point:

God is at work in your life - even when you do not recognize it or understand it.

But it's much easier and profitable when you cooperate with Him.

"Success can be measured not only in achievements, but in lessons learned, lives touched and moments shared along the way"

[DocW]

The ability to concentrate and to use your time well is everything. For him who has no concentration, there is no tranquility. The secret to success in any human endeavor is total concentration. A straight path never leads anywhere except to the objective.

[DocW]

اللَّهُمَّ بِعِلْمِكَ الْغَيْبَ وَقُدْرَتِكَ عَلَى الْخَلْقِ أَحْيِنِي مَا عَلِمْتَ الْحَيَاةَ خَيْرًا لِي وَتَوَفَّنِي إِذَا عَلِمْتَ الْوَفَاةَ خَيْرًا لِي اللَّهُمَّ وَأَسْأَلُكَ خَشْيَتَكَ فِي الْغَيْبِ وَالشَّهَادَةِ وَأَسْأَلُكَ كَلِمَةَ الْحَقِّ فِي الرِّضَا وَالْغَضَبِ وَأَسْأَلُكَ الْقَصْدَ فِي الْفَقْرِ وَالْغِنَى وَأَسْأَلُكَ نَعِيمًا لَا يَنْفَدُ وَأَسْأَلُكَ قُرَّةَ عَيْنٍ لَا تَنْقَطِعُ وَأَسْأَلُكَ الرِّضَاءَ بَعْدَ الْقَضَاءِ وَأَسْأَلُكَ بَرْدَ الْعَيْشِ بَعْدَ الْمَوْتِ وَأَسْأَلُكَ لَذَّةَ النَّظَرِ إِلَى وَجْهِكَ وَالشَّوْقَ إِلَى لِقَائِكَ فِي غَيْرِ ضَرَّاءَ مُضِرَّةٍ وَلَا فِتْنَةٍ مُضِلَّةٍ اللَّهُمَّ زَيِّنَّا بِزِينَةِ الْإِيمَانِ وَاجْعَلْنَا هُدَاةً مُهْتَدِينَ

O Lord! through the help of Your knowledge of the unknown and Your power over Your Creation give me life till the time You deem it appropriate for me, and take me away from this world when You deem it appropriate for me. O God! and I seek humility towards You in open and in private, and want to be guided to the truth in happiness and in sorrow and request You to make me a balanced person between poverty and richness and want a blessing which will never finish and the coldness of the eyes which will never cease, and seek the courage to be happy at Your decisions and seek the serenity of life after death, and seek from You the fondness of meeting You and the joy of seeing You in a manner that I do not remain in hardships which are harmful and in a trial which lead [a person] astray. O God! please grant us the grace of faith, and make us such that we ourselves remain among the guided and are instrumental in providing guidance to others.

Nasa'i, No: 1305.

[DocW]

Life is a Gift ! 45 lessons


1. Life isn't fair, but it's still good.

2. When in doubt, just take the next small step.

3. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone.

4. Don't take yourself so seriously. No one else does.

5. Pay off your credit cards every month.

6. You don't have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.

7. Cry with someone. It's more healing than crying alone.

8. It's OK to get angry with God. He can take it.

9. Save for retirement starting with your first paycheck.

1 0. When it comes to chocolate, resistance is futile.

11 . Make peace with your past so it won't screw up the present.

12. It's OK to let your children see you cry.

13. Don't compare your life to others'. You have no idea what their Journey is all about.

14. If a relationship has to be a secret, you shouldn't be in it.

15. Everything can change in the blink of an eye.
But don't worry; God never blinks.

16. Take a deep breath. It calms the mind.

17. Get rid of anything that isn't useful, beautiful or joyful.

18. Whatever doesn't kill you really does make you stronger.

19. It's never too late to have a happy childhood. But the second one is up to you and no one else.

20. When it comes to going after what you love in life, don't take no for an answer.

21. Burn the candles, use the nice sheets, wear the fancy lingerie. Don't save it for a special occasion. Today is special.

22. Over prepare, then go with the flow.

23. Be eccentric now. Don't wait for old age to wear purple.

24. The most important sex organ is the brain.

25. No one is in charge of your happiness except you.

26. Frame every so-called disaster with these words: "In five years, will this matter?"

27. Always choose life.

28. Forgive everyone everything.

29. What other people think of you is none of your business.

30. Time heals almost everything. Give time time.

31. However good or bad a situation is, it will change.

32. Your job won't take care of you when you are sick. Your friends will. Stay in touch.

33. Believe in miracles.

34. God loves you because of who God is, not because of anything you did or didn't do.

35. Don't audit life. Show up and make the most of it now.

36. Growing old beats the alternative -- dying young.

37. Your children get only one childhood. Make it memorable.

38. All that truly matters in the end is that you loved.

39. Get outside every day. Miracles are waiting everywhere.

40. If we all threw our problems in a pile and saw everyone else's, we'd grab ours back.

41. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.

42. The best is yet to come.

43. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.

44. Yield.

45. Life isn't tied with a bow, but it's still a gift.




shoot with camera not with gun

[DocW]

I would remind you that extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice. And let me remind you also that moderation in pursuit of justice is no virtue.
-- Barry Goldwater

An optimist believes a housefly is looking for a way out.
-- George Jean Nathan


If you don't quit, and don't cheat, and don't run home when trouble arrives, you can only win.
-- Shelley Long

[DocW]

problem is your chance to do your best.
-- Duke Ellington


Without His love I can do nothing, with His love there is nothing I cannot do.
-- Source Unknown

[DocW]

In his autobiography, Franklin observes that he endeavored to help Benjamin Franklin just as the most important living person wants to help you. He wrote:
" My intention being to acquire the habit of all these virtues, I judged it would be well not to distract my attention by attempting the whole at once, but to fix it on one of them at a time; and when I should be the master of that, then to proceed to another, and so on,until I should have gone through the 13,and as the previous acquisition of some might facilitate the acquisition of certain others, I arranged them with that view....."

1. Temperance : Eat not to dullness; drink not to elevation.

2.Silence ; Speak not but what may benefit others or yourself.

3. Order :Let all your things have their places: Let each part of your
business have its time.

4 Resolution: : Resolve to perform what you ought;perform without fail what
you ought.

5.Frugality: : Make no expense but to do good to yourself or others, that is
waste nothing.

[DocW]

Sometimes you gotta create what you want to be a part of.
-- Geri Weitzman


Hate is not the opposite of love; apathy is.
-- Rollo May


Liberty consists in wholesome restraint.
-- Daniel Webster


There are realities we all share, regardless of our nationality, language, or individual tastes. As we need food, so do we need emotional nourishment: love, kindness, appreciation, and support from others. We need to understand our environment and our relationship to it. We need to fulfill certain inner hungers: the need for happiness, for peace of mind for wisdom.
-- J. Donald Walters

[DocW]

When you become angry because you were wronged or insulted, and this shows on your face and you find that your loathing of that deed and the person who did it are more than your loathing of evil that you see or hear about, then know for certain that your faith is weak, and your honor and wealth are dearer to you than your religion.

You are permitted to remain silent if you know with certainty that if you enjoin good or forbid evil your words will neither be listened to nor accepted, or there will ensue obvious harm either to yourself or your property. This is when enjoining and forbidden change from being an obligation into being a tremendous virtue which indicates that the one who does them loves God and prefers Him to all else. And if you come to know that an evil will increase if forbidden, or that the harm will involve other Muslims in addition to yourself, then the silence is better and, in some cases, obligatory. [Al-Haddad, The Book of Assistance]

Food for Thought:
Forgive all who have offended you, not for them but for yourself. Forgiveness is the economy of the heart, it saves the expense of anger, the cost of hatred, the waste of spirits. When you forgive, you in no way change the past, but you do sure change the future.

[DocW]

Show us a man who never makes a mistake and we will show you a man who never makes anything. The capacity for occasional blundering is inseparable from the capacity to bring things to pass. The only men who are past the danger of making mistakes are the men who sleep at Greenwood.

-- H. L. Wayland

[DocW]

The love of God is the ultimate reality, the deepest and strongest force in the universe; and it is revealed to the man who resolutely girds himself to the conflict. In the triangle of love between ourselves, God and other people, is found the secret of existence, and the best foretaste, that we can have on earth of what heaven will probably be like.

Renunciation of the world is followed by peace; its desire brings sorrow, discipline your self, and do not allow anyone to oppress your soul. [Rabia Basaria]

[Endymion]

shoot with camera not with gun

Wow...what a simple,little and beautiful solution of all the killings and pain in the world.I like that :)

[DocW]

The only way to have a friend is to be one. A friend is one of the nicest things you can have, and one of the best things you can be. A friend is one who knows all about you, and still likes you. Friends are relatives you make for yourself. There is nothing on this earth prized than true friendship

[DocW]

The remaining Principles of Benjamin Franklin

6. INDUSTRY: lose no time.Be always employed in something useful.Cut off all unnecessary
actions.

7.SINCERITY: uSE NO HARMFUL DECEIT. Think innocently and justly and, if you speak, speak accordingly.

8.JUSTICE: Wrong none by doing injuries, or omitting the benefits that are your duty.

9.MODERATION: aVOID EXTREMES; FORBEAR RESENTING injuries so much as you think they deserve.

10. CLEANLINESS: Tolerate no uncleanliness in body,clothes or habitation.

11.TRANQUILITY: Be not disturbed at trifles, or at accidents,common or unavoidable.

12.CHASTITY: Rarely use venery but for health or offspring, never to dullness, weakness, or the injury of your own or another's peace or reputation.

13.HUMILITY: Imitate Jesus and Socrates.

[DocW]

All of us are watchers -- of television, of time clocks, of traffic on the
freeway -- but few are observers. Everyone is looking, not many are seeing
-- Peter M. Leschak

[DocW]

It is difficulties that give birth to miracles.
-- Dr. Sharpe

[DocW]

To live lightheartedly but not recklessly; to be gay without being boisterous;
to be courageous without being bold; to show trust and cheerful resignation
without fatalism -- this is the art of living.
-- Jean De La Fontaine

[DocW]

Deal justly with those in your charge, whether 'public' or 'personal'. Be altogether protecting and solicitous for them, for God will call you to account in their regard, and 'every shepherd will be asked to account for his flock.' By your 'personal charges' I mean your seven organs, which are your tongue, ears, eyes, stomach, genitals, hands and feet.

These are your charges which God has given you and a trust with which He has entrusted you, which you should restrain from sin and use in His obedience. For God the Exalted created them only that by means of them you might obey Him; they are among the greatest of His favors, for which you should thank Him by using them to obey Him, and not in His disobedience. If you do not do this you will be turning God's favor into ingratitude. You will one day stand before God and these organs will testify to every good or evil in which you used them. [Al-Haddad, The Book of Assistance]

Food for Thought:
A humble knowledge of oneself is a surer road to God than a deep searching of sciences. When a man takes one step toward God, God takes more steps toward that man than there are sands in the worlds of time. Nothing has separated us from God but our own will, or rather our own will is our separation from God.

Renunciation (zuhd) of the world does not constitute wearing course clothes and eating stale bread. Real renunciation lies in curbing desires. (Sufyan al Thawri)

[DocW]

We've all heard that we have to learn from our mistakes, but I think it's more
important to learn from successes. If you learn only from your mistakes, you are inclined to learn only errors.
-- Norman Vincent Peale


The secret of joy in work is contained in one word - excellence. To know how to do something well is to enjoy it.
-- Pearl Sydenstricker Buck

[DocW]

Respect your ties of kinship and start with the closest of you; give generously of the good things you have and start with the nearest. God has in many contexts enjoined kind behavior toward kin in His precious Book; and the Messenger of God, may blessings and peace be upon him, has said: 'Charity to kin is both charity and joining (of kinship bonds).' And: 'Let him who believes in God and the Last Day honor his neighbor.'

Maintaining ties of kinship and kind behavior towards neighbors will not be complete unless one refrains from harming them, endures the harming they do, and does good to them according to the means at one's disposal. He has said, may blessings and peace be upon him: 'The maintainer (of kinship ties) is not him who rewards (the acts of goodness); rather is he the man who, when his kinship ties are severed, joins them again.' And: 'Habituate yourselves to kindness when people behave kindly (towards you), and do not behave badly when people behave badly (towards you).' [Al-Haddad, The Book of Assistance]

Food for Thought:
Selfishness is the root and source of all natural and moral evils, it is the greatest curse of the human race. Usually he is most empty who is most full of himself. Everybody thinks of changing humanity and nobody thinks of changing himself.

Fools exult in life while the pious prepare for the journey ahead. A major portion of their wealth is spent in God's way, and they themselves suffice with the bare minimum, striving toward the hereafter. (Sheikh Abdul Qadir Jilani)

[DocW]

It is our belief that if people are set free to express themselves to the fullest, their accomplishments will be far beyond their dreams, and they will not only contribute to the growth of the company, but will also be more useful citizens and contribute to the society at large.
-- Wilton M. Blount

Never give up, for that is just the place and time that the tide will turn.
-- Harriet Beecher Stowe


In a friend you find a second self.
-- Isabelle Norton


We live in an age when pizza gets to your home before the police.
-- Jeff Marder

[DocW]

"No one can hurt you without your consent." Eleanor Roosevelt

T hey cannot take away our self respect ,if we do not give it to them."
It is our willing permission, our consent to what happens to us,that hurts us far more than what happens to us in the first place. IT'S NOT WHAT HAPPENS TO US , BUT OUR RESPONSE TO WHAT HAPPENS TO US, THAT HURTS US.Of course ,things can hurt us physically or economically and can cause sorrow.But our character,our identity,does not have to be hurt at all.In fact,our most difficult experiences become the crucibles that forge our character and develop the internal powers, the freedom to handle difficult circumstances in the future and to inspire others to do so as well.

Ghandhi

[DocW]

It is not the greatness of a man's means that makes him independent, so much as the smallness of his wants.

-- William Cobbett

[DocW]

Keep the company of the best of people and avoid that of the worst; sit with the virtuous and avoid the unjust. Know that associating with people of goodness and keeping their company implant the love of goodness in the heart and help to practice it, while associating with the people of evil and keeping their company implant the love of evil in the heart and the love of practicing it. The one who associates closely with a particular group of people, inevitably ends up loving them, whether they are good or evil, and a man is with those he loves both in this world and in the hereafter. [Al-Haddad, The Book of Assistance]

Food for Thought:
Life is a journey, and where your finish line is has yet to be examined. We are all on a pilgrimage to a final destination. Your choice of direction will lead you farther or closer to home. Every day is an opportunity to train. To find the truth and to find yourself is really what the journey is about

[DocW]

Teaching and reminding is part of practicing what one knows, and great men only became great by the grace of God and by their guiding God's servants to His path. If you are unworthy now, then the only way you become worthy is to do good and invite people to it. Evil lies only in making claims and leading others to other than the truth. [Al-Haddad, The Book of Assistance]

Food for Thought:
Life is a long lesson in humility. Life consists not in holding good cards but in playing those you hold well. When I stand in front of God at the end of my life, I hope that I would not have a single bit of talent left, and could say: "I used everything You gave me."

[DocW]

A young and successful executive was traveling down a neighborhood street, going a bit too fast in his new Jaguar. He was watching for kids darting out from between parked cars and slowed down
when he thought he saw something. As his car passed, no children appeared. Instead, a brick smashed into the Jag's side door! He slammed on the brakes and backed the Jag back to the spot where the brick had been thrown. The angry driver then jumped out of the car, grabbed the nearest kid and pushed him up against a parked car shouting, "What was that all about and who are you? Just what the heck are you doing? That's a new car and that brick you threw is going to cost a lot of money. Why did you do it?" The young boy was apologetic. "Please, mister...please, I'm sorry but I didn't know what else to do," He pleaded. "I threw the brick because no one else would stop..."

With tears dripping down his face and off his chin, the youth pointed to a spot just around a parked car. "It's my brother, "he said "He rolled off the curb and fell out of his wheelchair and I can't lift him up."

Now sobbing, the boy asked the stunned executive, "Would you please help me get him back into his wheelchair? He's hurt and he's too heavy for me."
Moved beyond words, the driver tried to swallow the rapidly swelling lump in his throat. He hurriedly lifted the handicapped boy back into the wheelchair, then took out a linen handkerchief and dabbed at the fresh scrapes and cuts. A quick look told him everything was going to be okay. "Thank you and may God bless you," the grateful child told the stranger. Too shook up for words, the man simply watched the boy! push his wheelchair-bound brother down the sidewalk toward their home.
It was a long, slow walk back to the Jaguar. The damage was very noticeable, but the driver never bothered to repair the dented side door. He kept the dent there to remind him of this message: "Don't go through life so fast that someone has to throw a brick at you to get your attention!" God whispers in our souls and speaks to our hearts. Sometimes when we don't have time to listen, He has to throw a brick at us. It's our choice to listen or not.

[DocW]

If you have Food in the Fridge
Clothes on your Body & a Roof overhead & a place to sleep too,
you are richer than 75% of this world

If you have Money in the Bank, in Your "wallet" & spare change
somewhere,

You are among the top 8% of the world's wealthy people.

If You wake up this morning with more health than illness,
then You are more blessed than the 'million' who will not survive this week.

[The_Other_Admin]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_sWeVoLTczs

[DocW]

I dream of giving birth to a child who will ask, Mother, what was war?
-- Eve Merriam


It is in great dangers that we see great courage.
-- Jean Francois Regnard

[DocW]

Right human relations is the only true peace.
-- Alice A. Bailey

Love is the seed of all hope. It is the enticement to trust, to risk, to try, to go on.
-- Gloria Gaither

[DocW]

Leadership ... the ability to see what no one else sees, to listen when others talk and the ability to be optimistic when others are pessimistic.
-- George W. Cummings


A friend is one to whom one may pour out all the contents of one's heart, chaff and grain together, knowing that the gentlest of hands will take and sift it, keep what is worth keeping, and with a breath of kindness, blow the rest away.
-- Dinah Maria Mulock Craik


It is what we think we know already that prevents us from learning.
-- Claude Bernard

[DocW]

Every theory of love, from Plato down teaches that each individual loves in the
other sex what he lacks in himself.


The hero and the coward both feel the same thing, but the hero uses his fear,
projects it onto his opponent, while the coward runs. It's the same thing, fear,
but it's what you do with it that matters.
-- Cus D'Amato


Marriage is a mistake every man should make.
-- Sir George Jessel


Wood burns because it has the proper stuff in it; and a man becomes famous
because he has the proper stuff in him.
-- Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

[DocW]

Comfort the heartbroken, be gentle to the weak and the needy, console the poor, be lenient with insolvent, and lend to those who ask you. The reward for a loan exceeds that for charity eight times. This is because a loan is taken only by one who is in need of it. Console those who are stricken by adversity.

Beware of gloating, which is to rejoice at another Muslim's misfortune. Beware of openly reviling a Muslim for a sin he has fallen into, for the one who does so will be afflicted likewise before he dies. Relieve those in hardship, fulfill the needs of those in need, and keep the sinner's disgrace concealed. [Al-Haddad, The Book of Assistance]

Food for Thought:
He who is greedy is always in want. No gain satisfies a greedy mind. Greed lessens what is gathered. Greed is a bottomless pit which exhausts the person in an endless effort to satisfy the need without ever reaching satisfaction.

[sheemae]

Salam brother Doc :)

I read this in the most unlikely place today. I remembered you and this thread, and I had to post it :):

Who Cares?

I see your very busy nurse
I glimpse you here and there
Your busy doing paper work
When all I need is care

They tell me, you were there for me
In Cas and ITU
I’m sorry that I missed you there
But on the ward I need you too

I’m hungry and I’m thirsty nurse
Do you hope that I’ve been fed?
The food and drink you brought for me
Lies cold beside my bed

I know you want to care for me
It’s the job you came to do
But of me, there are so many
And of you, there are so few

I’m losing weight, don’t smell so sweet
A bath would be divine
A sip to drink, a bite to eat
If you only had the time

In need of care, we are the same
And I know you’ll try your best
I may be, the one in pain
But you’re the ones that’s stressed

The ward is dark and quiet now
Just a few jobs left to do
I see you’re working late again
But your family need you too

Can you hear me call you nurse?
As you lay there in your bed
Is it me keeps you awake?
That voice inside your head

I see you cutting corners now
In the job you’re trained to do
How is it nurse, this patient knows?
Because I’m one of you

At times I felt you let me down
And the profession, I love too
But how are you to care for me
When no-one cares for you

Austin Thomas Lt Col,2006

Salam :)

[DocW]

Salaam sister Sheemae
Jazakallak many thanks for sharing this with us

[DocW]

It's not necessarily the amount of time you spend at practice that counts; it's what you put into the practice.
-- Eric Lindros


'Tain't worthwhile to wear a day all out before it comes.
-- Sarah Orne Jewett


One recipe for a longer life; Never exceed the speed limit.
-- Source Unknown

[DocW]

Some persons do first, think afterward, and then repent forever.
-- Thomas Secker


The confession of our failings is a thankless office. It savors less of sincerity or modesty than of ostentation. It seems as if we thought our weaknesses as good as other people's virtues.
-- William Hazlitt


Listen to what you know instead of what you fear.
-- Richard Bach

[DocW]

The purpose of life is a life of purpose. Not being dead doesn't mean being alive. Life is like a coin. You can spent it any way you wish, but you can only spend it once. It is not the length of life, but the depth of life. Only a few things are important for life. All the art of living lies in a fine mingling of letting go and holding on.

[DocW]

If you believe you can, you probably can. If you believe you won t, you most assuredly won t. Belief is the ignition switch that gets you off the launching pad.
-- Denis Waitley

Just because everything is different doesn't mean anything has changed.
-- Irene Peter


Often we have no time for our friends but all the time in the world for our enemies.
-- Leon Uris

[DocW]

Sometimes only a change of viewpoint is needed to convert a tiresome duty into an interesting opportunity.
-- Alberta Flanders

[DocW]

Stephen R. Covey writes:
Just as the Constitution of a country is the written standard, the key criterion by which everything else is directed and evaluated,so must every person develop a 'personal mission statement' or philosophy or creed to govern himself and his behaviour.
Because each individual is unique, a personal mission statement will reflect that uniqueness, both in content and form.
Rolfe Kerr has expressed his personal creed in this way:

Succeed at home first.
Seek and merit divine help.
Never compromise with honesty.
Remember the people involved.
Hear both sides before judging.
Obtain counsel of others.
Defend those who are absent.
Be sincere yet decisive.
Develop one new proficiency a year.
Plan tomorrow's work today.
Hustle while you wait.
Maintain a positive attitude.
Keep a sense of humour.
Be orderly in person and in work.
Do not fear mistakes.Fear only the absence of creative, constructive and corrective responses to those mistakes.
Facilitate the success of subordinates. Listen twice as much as you speak.

[DocW]

The man who gives up accomplishes nothing and is only a hindrance. The man who does not give up can move mountains.
-- Ernest Hello


Be yourself. Who else is better qualified?
-- Frank J. Giblin II


The roads we take are more important than the goals we announce. Decisions determine destiny.
-- Frederick Speakman

[DocW]

Yesterday is a canceled check: Forget it. Tomorrow is a promissory note: Don't count on it. Today is ready cash: Use it!
-- Edwin C. Bliss


I have never in my life learned anything from any man who agreed with me.
-- Dudley Field Malone

[faithful]

Salam Doc W;

Thanks for these quotes, very inspiring :D


I have never in my life learned anything from any man who agreed with me.
-- Dudley Field Malone

I like this one. :)

Remember Allah in times of ease, and He will recognize you in times of distress. What hit you could not have missed you, what missed you could not have hit you. Remember that victory comes with patience, relief comes with affliction and ease comes with hardship...~ Hadith

I don't know if it's the right thread to put it but I adore this Hadith.

[DocW]

It is one thing to mourn for sin because it exposes us to hell,
and another to mourn for it because it is an infinite evil;
one thing to mourn for it because it is injurious to ourselves,
and another thing to mourn for it because it is wrong and offensive to God.
It is one thing to be terrified; another, to be humbled.

Patience comes in three stages: first, one learns not to follow the baser self; second, one learns to content oneself with one's fate; finally, one surrenders oneself to the Master's will and discovers within love and compassion, the greatest of all achievements. [Imam Ghazali]

[DocW]

Life is half spent before we know it. It's what you do with your life counts. Life is not a sum of what we are, but what we yearn to be. Life is like a blanket too short. You pull it up and your toes rebel, you yank it down and your shoulders shiver, but cheerful folks manage to draw their knees up and pass a very comfortable night.

[DocW]

Excerpt anonymous

After 21 years of marriage, my wife wanted me to take another woman
out to dinner and a movie. She said I love you but I know this other
woman loves you and would love to spend some time with you.

The other woman that my wife wanted me to visit was my MOTHER, who has
been a widow for 19 years, but the demands of my work and my three
children had made it possible to visit her only occasionally.

That night I called to invite her to go out for dinner and a movie.

'What's wrong, are you well,' she asked? My mother is the type of
woman who suspects that a late night call or a surprise invitation is
a sign of bad news.

'I thought that it would be pleasant to be with you,' I responded.
'Just the two of us.'

She thought about it for a moment, and then said, 'I would like that
very much.'

That Friday after work, as I drove over to pick her up I was a bit nervous.

When I arrived at her house, I noticed that she, too, seemed to be
nervous about our date. She waited in the door with her coat on. She
had curled her hair and was wearing the dress that she had worn to
celebrate her last wedding anniversary.

She smiled from a face that was as radiant as an angel's.

'I told my friends that I was going to go out with my son, and they
were impressed, 'she said, as she got into the car. 'They can't wait
to hear about our meeting'. We went to a restaurant that, although not
elegant, was very nice and cozy. My mother took my arm as if she were
the First Lady.

After we sat down, I had to read the menu. Large print. Half way
through the entries, I lifted my eyes and saw Mom sitting there
staring at me. A nostalgic smile was on her lips.

'It was I who used to have to read the menu when you were small,' she
said. 'Then it's time that you relax and let me return the favor,' I
responded.

During the dinner, we had an agreeable conversation - nothing
extraordinary, but catching up on recent events of each others life.

We talked so much that we missed the movie.

As we arrived at her house later, she said, 'I'll go out with you
again, but only if you let me invite you.' I agreed.

'How was your dinner date?' asked my wife when I got home. 'Very nice.

Much more so than I could have imagined,' I answered.

A few days later, my mother died of a massive heart attack. It
happened so suddenly that I didn't have time to do anything for her.
Some time later, I received an envelope with a copy of a restaurant
receipt from the same place mother and I had dined.

An attached note said: 'I paid this bill in advance. I wasn't sure
that I could be there; but nevertheless, I paid for two plates - one
for you & the other for your wife. You will never know what that night
meant for me.

I love you, son.'

At that moment, I understood the importance of saying in time: 'I LOVE
YOU!' and to give our loved ones the time that they deserve. Nothing
in life is more important than God and your family. Give them the time
they deserve, because these things cannot be put off till 'some other
time.'

[DocW]

Effect reconciliation between the hearts of the believers, and cause them to love each other by bringing to light their virtues and concealing their vices. Restore good relations between them, for such a thing is more meritorious than supererogatory prayers and fasts, especially when effected between a father and his son, or a man and his relatives.

Beware of sowing discord through slander, backbiting or anything else such as will result in antagonism and aversion; for this is considered an immense sin by God. Slander is to report the words of one person to another with the intention of creating discord between them. Backbiting is to say things about a person, in his absence, which he would have resented had he been present, with defamatory intent, whether this defamation be verbal, written, or indicated. [Al-Haddad, The Book of Assistance]

Food for Thought:
When we are unable to find tranquility within ourselves, it is useless to seek it elsewhere. If you don't find peace within yourself, you will never find it anywhere else. If there is to be any peace it will come through being, not having. Forgiving those who hurt us is the key to personal peace.

I never saw anyone as just as the world. As long as you pursue the world it will pursue you, but when you turn away from it and seek God, it will leave you alone and its glamor shall no longer fascinate you. [Al Hujwiri]

[faithful]

If your heart is a volcano, how shall you expect flowers to bloom? ~ Khalil Gibran

[DocW]

In April, Maya Angelou was interviewed
by Oprah on her 70+ birthday...... Oprah asked her what she thought of growing older.
And, there on television, she said it was 'exciting...'
Regarding body changes, she said there were many,
occurring every day.....

She is such a simple and honest woman, with so much wisdom in her words!

Maya Angelou said this:
'I've learned that no matter what! happens, or how bad it seems today, life does go on, and it will be better tomorrow.'

'I've learned that you can tell a lot about a person by the way he/she handles these three things: a rainy day, lost luggage, and tangled Christmas tree lights.'

'I've learned that regardless of your relationship with your parents, you'll miss them when they're gone from your life.'

'I've learned that making a 'living' is not the same thing as 'making a life.'

'I've learned that life sometimes gives you a second
chance.'

'I've learned that you shouldn't go through life with a catcher's mitt on both hands; you need to be able to
throw some things back...'


'I've learned that whenever I decide something with an open heart, I usually make the right decision.'


'I've learned that even when I have pains, I don't have to be one.'

'I've learned that every day you should reach out and touch someone. People love a warm hug, or just a friendly pat on the back.'

'I've learned that I still have a lot to learn..'


'I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.'

[faithful]

awww... that's so so so beautiful.. full of wisdom!

[DocW]

Beware of injustice, for it will be darkness on the Day of Rising, especially injustice to others, which is never left alone by God. The Prophet, may blessings and peace be upon him, has said: 'The bankrupt in my nation is one who comes on the Day of Rising with numerous good deeds, but who has struck someone, insulted someone else, and taken the money of still another, when his good deeds are exhausted, some of their evil deeds are taken and added to his, after which he is cast into Fire'.

Therefor, if you ever wrong anyone, hasten to emerge from the situation by submitting to punishment if it is a legal offence, asking to be absolved if it is a matter of honor, and returning what you have taken if it is a financial injustice. If you find yourself altogether unable to make reparations for some of your injustices, then seek refuge in God with sincerity, urgency, and an acknowledgement of your powerlessness, that He may get your adversary to accept you; also pray in abundance and ask for forgiveness for those whom you have wronged. [Al-Haddad, The Book of Assistance]

Food for Thought:
It's not what you'd do with a million,
If riches should ever be your lot,
But what are you doing at present
With the dollar and a quarter you've got?

When the lover of God turns his eyes away from the temptations of this world, he sees the Lord with the eyes of his heart. [Al Hujwiri]

[faithful]

Doubt is a pain too lonely to know that faith is his twin brother. ~ Khalil Gibran

[aamantubillah]

Doubt is a pain too lonely to know that faith is his twin brother. ~ Khalil Gibran

Niiice :)

[DocW]

Believe that life is worth living and your belief will create the fact. The great use of life is to spend it for something that will outlast it. People living deeply have no fear of death. There is no wealth but life. Wars and elections are too small to matter in the long run, the daily work that goes on-----it adds up.

This world is transitory and our life therein but a moment borrowed, our breaths numbered, yet our indifference reckless. [Abu Bakr al Siddiq]

[The_Other_Admin]

Who is more foolish,
the child afraid of the dark,
or the man afraid of the light?
-Maurice Freehill

[DocW]

Abstinence is better than seeking a remedy.
Scratching the abrasion only makes it worse.
Fasting is the foremost principle of medicine.
Fast, and behold the strength of the spirit. [Mawlana Rumi]


Food for Thought:
A diamond is a chunk of coal that made good under pressure. A clay pot sitting in the sun will always be a clay pot. It has to go through the white heat of the furnace to become porcelain. Times of general calamity and confusion have ever been productive of the greatest minds. The purist ore is produced from the hottest furnace, and the brightest thunderbolt is elicited from the darkest storms.

Seek what you wish from God, not from men.
Be satisfied in joy; there is honor therein.
On friends and relatives be not a burden.
Rich is he who hopes from God, not from men. [Imam Ghazali]

[DocW]

Great occasions do not make heroes or cowards; they simply unveil them to the eyes of men.
-- Bishop Westcott


The most glorious moments in your life are not the so-called days of success, but rather those days when out of dejection and despair you feel rise in you a challenge to life, and the promise of future accomplishments.
-- Gustave Flaubert

[DocW]

To get Peace you must work for Justice.
-- John Paul VI

[DocW]

Conceit spoils the finest genius. There is not much danger that real talent or goodness will be overlooked long; even if it is, the consciousness of possessing and using it well should satisfy one, and the great charm of all power is modesty.
-- Louisa May Alcott


The older I grow the more I distrust the familiar doctrine that age brings wisdom.
-- Henry Louis Mencken

[DocW]

The purpose of relationships is not happiness, but transformation."
-- Andrew Schneider

[DocW]

Mother Teresa

[DocW]

Swami Vivekananda

[DocW]

Albert Einstein

[DocW]

Charles Dickens

[DocW]

William Shakespeare

[DocW]

Abraham Lincoln

[DocW]

When you stand at the edge of the cliff, jump to fly, not to fall.
-- Source Unknown


If all my friends were to jump off a bridge, I wouldn't jump with them, I'd be at the bottom to catch them.
-- Source Unknown

Marriage is a lottery, but you can't tear up your ticket if you lose.
-- F. M. Knowles

[faithful]

:awesome:

Great job DocW!

[DocW]

I can have peace of mind only when I forgive rather than judge.
-- Gerald G. Jampolsky

[faithful]

The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.
~ Martin Luther King, Jr. quote

[faithful]

One Art
by Elizabeth Bishop

The art of losing isn't hard to master;
so many things seem filled with the intent
to be lost that their loss is no disaster.

Lose something every day. Accept the fluster
of lost door keys, the hour badly spent.
The art of losing isn't hard to master.

Then practice losing farther, losing faster:
places, and names, and where it was you meant
to travel. None of these will bring disaster.

I lost my mother's watch. And look! my last, or
next-to-last, of three loved houses went.
The art of losing isn't hard to master.

I lost two cities, lovely ones. And, vaster,
some realms I owned, two rivers, a continent.
I miss them, but it wasn't a disaster.


Even losing you (the joking voice, a gesture
I love) I shan't have lied. It's evident
the art of losing's not too hard to master
though it may look like (Write it!) like disaster.

[DocW]

Those who humble themselves are raised up by God, and those who are proud are abased by Him. Signs of humility include a liking for obscurity, a dislike for fame, to accept truth whether it be from a man of high or low birth, to love the poor, associate with them and keep their company, to fulfil the rights people have upon you as completely as you can, thank those of them who fulfil their duties to you, and excuse those who are remiss. [Al-Haddad, The Book of Assistance]

Food for Thought:
Do not manage as if you had ten thousand years before you. Look you, death stands at your elbow; make the most of your minute, and be good for something while it is in your power. Real generosity toward the future lies in giving all to the present. The future belongs to those who live intensely in the present. We know nothing about tomorrow; our business is to be good and happy today.

Wisdom and power follow endurance and patience. [al Hadith]

[DocW]

YOUR "kindness" may be treated as Your weakness....
"Still be kind"

Your help to others may go unneeded & unnoticed
"Still be helpful"

If You are honest & frank
people may cheat You....
"Still be honest"

When you spend years in building
Some ONE could destroy overnight...
"Build anyway"


The good You do today,people will often forget tomorrow
"Do good anyway"

Because it is between YOU & ALLAH, It is never between You & them..

[DocW]

There is no education like adversity.
-- Benjamin Disraeli


Organic life, we are told, has developed gradually from the protozoon to the philosopher, and this development, we are assured, is indubitably an advance. Unfortunately it is the philosopher, not the protozoon, who gives us this assurance.
-- Bertrand Russell


If you listen to your fears, you will die never knowing what a great person you might have been.
-- Robert H. Schuller

[Sadiq_b]

to fulfil the rights people have upon you as completely as you can

Thank you doc... this reminded me of something I had to do... May Allah bless you you for the good words you bring to us.

[DocW]

Sometimes when I consider what tremendous consequences come from little things. I am tempted to think there are no little things.
-- Bruce Barton


My wife heard me say I love you a thousand times, but she never once heard me say sorry
-- Bruce Willis

[DocW]

Don't say you don't have enough time. You have exactly the same number of hours per day that were given to Helen Keller, Pasteur, Michaelangelo, Mother Teresa, Leonardo da Vinci, Thomas Jefferson, and Albert Einstein.
-- H. Jackson Brown

[DocW]

The purpose of life is not to be happy -- but to matter, to be productive, to be useful, to have it make a difference that you lived at all. The true purpose of education is not only to fill man's mind with knowledge and his belly with food, but to deepen his spiritual insights. By having reverence for life, we enter into a spiritual relation with the world.

[DocW]

Luck is being in the right place at the right time, but location and timing are
to some extent under our control.
-- Natasha Josefowitz


Nearly all our originality comes from the stamp that time impresses upon our
sensibility.
-- Charles Baudelaire


We don't laugh because we're happy -- we're happy because we laugh.
-- William James

[DocW]

Character is like the foundation of a house -- it is below the surface.
-- Source Unknown

[DocW]

Life to me is a challenge, a test, a fight, a reminder and a way to discover my real self and my own depth and strengths as well as to know and uncover my short comings. Belief and remembrance of Allah remain to me my strength and praying the solution through all hardships.

[DocW]

Mental toughness is many things. It is humility because it behooves all of us to remember that simplicity is the sign of greatness and meekness is the sign of true strength. Mental toughness is spartanism with qualities of sacrifice, self-denial, dedication. It is fearlessness, and it is love.
-- Vince Lombardi

In the long run, we get no more than we have been willing to risk giving.
-- Sheldon Kopp


Only when all contribute their firewood can they build up a strong fire.
-- Chinese Proverb

[DocW]

Do you know the legend of the Cherokee Indian youth's rite of Passage?
His father takes him into the forest, blindfolds him and leaves him alone. He is required to sit on a stump the whole night and not remove the blindfold until the rays of the morning sun shine through it. He cannot cry out for help to anyone..

Once he survives the night, he is a MAN.

He cannot tell the other boys of this experience, because each lad must come into manhood on his own.

The boy is naturally terrified. He can hear all kinds of noises. Wild beasts must surely be all around him . Maybe even some human might do him harm. The wind blew the grass and earth, and shook his stump, but he sat stoically, never removing the blindfold. It would be the only way he could become a man! Finally, after a horrific night the sun appeared and he removed his blindfold.

It was then that he discovered his father sitting on the stump next to him.
He had been at watch the entire night, protecting his son from harm.



We, too, are never alone. Even when we don't know it, God is watching over us, Sitting on the stump beside us. When trouble comes, all we have to do is reach out to Him.


Moral of the story:
Just because you can't see God, Doesn't mean He is not there.
"For we walk by faith, not by sight.."

[DocW]

Guidance of the Day:
You must repent of every single sin, small or great, outward or inward. For repentance is the first step that a servant takes on the Path, and is the foundation of all other stations, as God loves the penitent. The Messenger of God, may blessings and peace be upon him, has said: 'The one who repents of a sin is as he who has not sinned.'

Know that repentance cannot be sound unless the sin itself is renounced, remorse is felt, and there is present a determination never to repeat it for the rest of one's life. The true penitent is characterized by signs, among which are a softness of the heart, frequent weeping, adhering to obedience, and forsaking evil companions and places. [Al-Haddad, The Book of Assistance]

Food for Thought:
Life has meaning only if one barters it day by day for something other than itself. The price of anything is the amount of life you exchange for it. Live every day as if it were your last, because one of these days it will be. May you live every day of your life.

If you desire light, be ready to receive light. Nurture vainglory and become separated from light. If you long for a way out of this prison, bow down in worship and draw near. [Mawlana Rumi]

[DocW]

What we have done for ourselves alone dies with us; what we have done for others and the world remains and is immortal.
-- Albert Pike

Thou didst create the night, but I made the lamp. Thou didst create clay, but I made the cup. Thou didst create the deserts, mountains and forests, I produced the orchards, gardens and groves. It is I who made the glass out of stone, and it is I who turn a poison into an antidote.
-- Sir Muhammad Iqbal


You will never find time for anything. If you want time you must make it.
-- Charles Buxton

[DocW]

What is mind? No matter. What is matter? Never mind.
-- George Berkeley

The research rat of the future allows experimentation without manipulation of the real world. This is the cutting edge of modeling technology.
-- John Spencer


Life is given for wisdom, and yet we are not wise; for goodness, and we are not good; for overcoming evil, and evil remains; for patience and sympathy and love, and yet we are fretful and hard and weak and selfish. We are keyed not to attainment, but to the struggle toward it.
-- Thornton T. Munger


Some minds are like concrete, all mixed up and permanently set.
-- Source Unknown

[DocW]

Wise Quote of the Day:
Know that days are but hours, and hours are but breaths, and every soul is a container, hence let not any breath pass without any benefit such as on the Day of Judgment you find an empty container and feel regret. [Imam Ibn al-Jawzi]

Guidance of the Day:
Beware of wilful persistence, which is to sin and not repent immediately. It is a believer's duty to guard himself against sins, both small and great, in the way he would against burning fire, engulfing waters or lethal poisons. He should neither commit nor intend a sin, neither talk about it before nor delight in it after it has happened. If he does fall into it he should conceal and hate it, and hasten to repent immediately.

Renew your repentance frequently, for sins are numerous and a servant is never free, outwardly or inwardly, from a great number of rebellious acts, even if his state is good, behavior upright, and obedience continual. It should suffice you (to know) that the Messenger of God, may blessings and peace be upon him, infallible and absolutely perfect as he was, repented to God and asked for His forgiveness more than seventy times each day. [Al-Haddad, The Book of Assistance]

Food for Thought:
Of all acts of man, repentance is the most divine. The greatest of all faults is to be conscious of none. When the soul has laid down its faults at the feet of God, it feels as though it has wings. Death-bed repentance is burning the candle of life in the service of the devil, then blowing the snuff in the face of heaven.

Purity does not lie in rituals, nor can human nature be changed by effort. Those who love God and remain conscious only of their Beloved attain purity. [Al Hujwiri]

[DocW]

The trouble with learning from experience is that you never graduate.
-- Doug Larson

[DocW]

value the friend who for me finds time on his calendar, but I cherish the friend who for me does not consult the calendar.
-- Robert Brault

[faithful]

Nice ones!!! Thank you again DocW for these quotes.. Very inspiring!

[DocW]

Excerpt from:
Wisdom of Wolves,
by Twyman Towery
No other mammal shows more spirited devotion to its family, organization or social group than the wolf. The members of the wolf pack hunt together to insure survival of the group, but they also play, sing, sleep, scuffle and protect each other. A wolf's purpose for existing is to insure the survival of the pack.
A wolf pack is made up of parents, aunts, uncles, brothers, sisters, half brothers and half sisters - it is truly an extended family organization. And though generally only the Alpha male and Alpha female produce pups, every member of the pack participates in the nurturing and education of the young. Each pack member assumes responsibility for the food, shelter, training, protection and play where the pups are concerned, for the pack realizes that the young are their future.
The loyalty exhibited between wolves is well known and documented. But a Montana man who has used his summers for years to study wolves in Alaska gave me a different view of wolf loyalty. He told about a couple he knew who lived in an extremely remote area with their two sons in a log cabin they had made by hand. This family also included two wolves they had raised from earliest puppyhood, rescuing them from their den after their mother had been indiscriminately shot and the pups left to die. This was the only family the wolves had ever known, having only lived with humans as their pack mates.
One day the parents were cutting wood about a mile from home when one of the boys accidentally turned over a kerosene lamp (there was no electricity), and a raging fire began to consume the wooden structure. The two wolves immediately dashed toward the flaming cabin where the two boys were trapped inside, immobilized by smoke and fear. The parents were far behind, so the wolves gnawed and fought their way into the cabin and pulled the boys outside to safety. Though both wolves were badly burned, their loyalty to their "pack" meant the difference between life and death for these two members of their "pack."
The Wolf Credo written by Del Goetz truly captures what the wolf is all about:
Respect the elders
Teach the young
Cooperate with the pack.
Play when you can
Hunt when you must
Rest in between.
Share your affections
Voice your feelings
Leave your mark.

[DocW]

Apply what you know

"Knowledge of any kind ... brings about a change in awareness from where it is possible to create new realities."

-- Deepak Chopra

"More important than finding the teacher is finding and following the truth of the teaching...."

-- Sogyal Rinpoche

"There can be no knowledge without emotion. We may be aware of a truth, yet until we have felt its force, it is not ours. To the cognition of the brain must be added the experience of the soul."

-- Arnold Bennett

[DocW]

The test of any man lies in action. By his deeds we know a man. It is in your act that you exist, not in your body. Your act is yourself, and there is no other you. A human being has no discernable character until he acts. To do is to be. To be is to do.