thought provoking

[DocW]

From Leo Buscaglia's Bk: Living, Loving and Learning.

Our Parents never hid life from us.They always let us know when they were despondent and unhappy and fearful. They never let us believe that they were Rocks of Gibraltar.
I remember my Father sitting down and telling us that his partner had absconded with all their money and he didn't even know where our next meal was coming from.
Mama had the craziest habit - she loved to laugh.And that just struck her so funny. He was furious with her! She was laughing, tears were coming down her cheeks. You know what she did?We all went off and came home that evening and she had prepared a banquet such as we would have for a baptism or a wedding; pasta, veal, everything!
My Father said, 'My God, what's this?'
She said,' I spent everything on this.'
He said, 'You are CRAZY!'
She said,'The time we need joy is NOW, not later.This is the time we need to be happy. Shut up and eat.


I was lucky.I had an incrdible, wonderful Papa and an insane Mama. She always brought joy and music and beauty and understanding to our home. Papa was very serious.
I was learning from them all the time.No one ever stopped to tell me those things. But I learned. I learned pride.We were very very poor.All of the money that we have cannot buy what we learned.


I remember getting to the point where I really had very little money---- almost none.I thought I'd just wire home., that,s all. I went to the Telegraph Office in Paris, and, to save money, just wrote,'Starving. Felice.' One mord but significant.Twenty four hours later , I had a telegram from Mama and IT said,'Starve; Mama.'The moment of truth! At long last, I was an adult.
I'm going to tell you what that taught me.It taught me about hunger, it taught me about how cold a place can be. It taught me a lot and I never would have learnt it if Mama had relented and sent me a check.

[DocW]

The surrender of life is nothing to sinking down into acknowledgment of inferiority.
-- John C. Calhoun

Democracy means that anyone can grow up to be president, and anyone who doesn't grow up can be vice president.
-- Johnny Carson

There is no such thing as accidental failure. All failure is at least half imposed.
-- Source Unknown

[DocW]

Your real possession is that which you will not lose in a ship wreck -- i.e. your imaan and good deeds with sincerity. [Imam Ghazali]


Guidance of the day:
Impose upon yourself to realize the meanings of invocations and supplications that you use and acquire them so as to make them your own attributes. For example, when you say, "Transcendent is God!" (Subha'Allah) your heart should be full with the magnification of God and awareness of His Transcendence. And when you say, "Praise belongs to God," (Al-Hamdu lil' llah) your heart should be full of praises and thanks for God. And when you say, "I ask Allah to forgive me," (Astaghfiru'llah) it should be at the same time full of hope for God's forgiveness, yet fearful of His not granting it; and so on. [Counsels of Religion by Imam al-Haddad]


Food for thought:
Anybody can become angry -- that is easy; but to be angry with the right person, and to the right degree, and at the right time, and for the right purpose, and in the right way -- that is not within everybody's power and is not easy. Whenever you are angry, be assured that it is not only a present evil, but that you have increased a habit. The greatest remedy for anger is delay. When a person is wrong and won't admit it, he always gets angry.

Mrs Iffat Hassan

[DocW]

If God wanted us to be brave, why did he give us legs?
-- Marvin Kitman

Those who think they know it all are very annoying to those of us who do.
-- Robert K. Mueller

[DocW]

Nobel Peace Prize winner "Tawakkul Karman," 'The mother of Yemen's revolution,' when asked about her Hijab by journalists and how it is not proportionate with her level of intellect and education, replied:

“Man in early times was almost naked, and as his intellect evolved he started wearing clothes. What I am today and what I’m wearing represents the highest level of thought and civilization that man has achieved, and is not regressive. It’s the removal of clothes again that is a regression back to the ancient times.''






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[DocW]

I expect to pass through life but once. If, therefore , there be any kindness I can show, or any good thing I can do to any fellow human being, let me do it now, for I shall not pass this way again.
------William Penn.


By all means marry.If you get a good wife, you'll become happy; if u get a bad one, you'll become a philosopher.
------Socrates.

[DocW]

1. Both Moses and Pharaoh
dwell within your being.
Seek these opponents within your being.
The conception of Moses is a reawakening.
The light is the same,
though the lamp is different.


2. Do not regard yourself as infamous or weak.
Reflect upon your aspirations, O noble one.
No matter what your station be,
keep searching.
For this pursuit is a blessed course.
This quest removes all impediments to God.


3. He complained of his pain a hundredfold.
God said, "Grief and pain make you modest and noble.
Your real enemy is your own medicine, the elixir that
seeks to win your heart. Flee from it to solitude and seek
help of God's grace. Your friends are really your enemies,
for they occupy you and make you oblivious of God."


4. The wisdom of this world brings doubt. The wisdom
of religion soars above the skies. Reflection on Truth
opens the way to the kingdom. Treasures and armies
do not make you a king. A true king is a king within
himself. [Mawlana Rumi]

Mrs Iffat Hassan

[DocW]

Time is free, but it's priceless. You can't own it, but you can use it. You can't keep it, but you can spend it. Once you've lost it you can never get it back.
~ Harvey MacKay ~

[DocW]

One of the hardest things to do in life is to listen without intent to reply.
-- Source Unknown

Children are the living messages we send to a time we will not see.
-- John W. Whitehead

Time makes friendship stronger, but love weaker
-- Jean De La Bruyere

[DocW]

Majority rule only works if you're also considering individual rights. Because you can't have five wolves and one sheep voting on what to have for supper.
-- Larry Flynt

Leadership is an opportunity to serve. It is not a trumpet call to self-importance.
-- J. Donald Walters

Forget about the consequences of failure. Failure is only a temporary change in direction to set you straight for your next success.
-- Denis Waitley

The elevator to success is out of order. You'll have to use the stairs... one step at a time.
-- Joe Girard

[DocW]

In our era, the road to holiness necessarily passes through the world of action.
-- Dag Hammarskjold

When you don't know where you are going...any road will do.
-- Source Unknown

[DocW]

Do anything, even the impossible; it may only take a little longer when a
miracle is required.
-- Source Unknown

You know how to conquer, Hannibal, but not how to profit by your victory.
-- Macherbal

[DocW]

Oh, God , to have reached the point of death, only to find that you have never lived."
Thoreau


Death teaches us that the time is now. Death teaches us the joy of the moment. It teaches us we don't have forever. It teaches us that nothing is permanent.It teaches us to let go, there's nothing you can hang on to.And it tells us to give up expectations and let tomorrow tell its own story.
Leo Buscaglia.

[DocW]

All humans are dead except those who have knowledge, and all those who have knowledge are asleep except those who do good deeds, and all those who do good deeds are deceived except those who are sincere, and those who are sincere are always in a state of worry. [Imam al-Shafi'i]


Guidance of the day:
Strive for presence with God, reflect on the meanings of what you say, and do your best to acquire the behavior He likes and avoid that which He dislikes. Concentrate on your inward aspect. Confirm your words with your acts, your acts with your intentions and your sincerity, and your intentions and sincerity by purifying your inward and reforming your heart. For the heart is the essential thing upon which everything else depends. Therefore it is a duty to attend to it and concentrate on making it sound and upright. [Counsels of Religion by Imam al-Haddad]


Food for thought:
A room without books is like a body without a soul. The books that help you most are those which make you think the most. Read the best books first, or you may not have a chance to read them all. Some books are to be tasted; others swallowed; and some to be chewed and digested. The one who does not read good books has no advantage over the one who can't read them. Books, like friends, should be few and well chosen.

Mrs Iffat Hassan

[DocW]

There exists a black kingdom which the eyes of man avoid because its landscape fails signally to flatter them. This darkness, which he imagines he can dispense with in describing the light, is error with its unknown characteristics. Error is certainty's constant companion. Error is the corollary of evidence. And anything said about truth may equally well be said about error: the delusion will be no greater.
-- Louis Aragon