Start with Yourself

Dream.
Inspire...Encourage one person at a time, starting with yourself!

Unwritten.....Release your inhibitions!

I love this song!!!!
(to turn off blog music to to the bottom of the blog)






"Unwritten"




I am unwritten, can't read my mind, I'm undefined

I'm just beginning, the pen's in my hand, ending unplanned



Staring at the blank page before you

Open up the dirty window

Let the sun illuminate the words that you could not find



Reaching for something in the distance

So close you can almost taste it

Release your inhibitions

Feel the rain on your skin

No one else can feel it for you

Only you can let it in

No one else, no one else

Can speak the words on your lips

Drench yourself in words unspoken

Live your life with arms wide open

Today is where your book begins

The rest is still unwritten



Oh, oh, oh



I break tradition, sometimes my tries, are outside the lines

We've been conditioned to not make mistakes, but I can't live that way



Staring at the blank page before you

Open up the dirty window

Let the sun illuminate the words that you could not find



Reaching for something in the distance

So close you can almost taste it

Release your inhibitions

Feel the rain on your skin

No one else can feel it for you

Only you can let it in

No one else, no one else

Can speak the words on your lips

Drench yourself in words unspoken

Live your life with arms wide open

Today is where your book begins



Feel the rain on your skin

No one else can feel it for you

Only you can let it in

No one else, no one else

Can speak the words on your lips

Drench yourself in words unspoken

Live your life with arms wide open

Today is where your book begins

The rest is still unwritten



Staring at the blank page before you

Open up the dirty window

Let the sun illuminate the words that you could not find



Reaching for something in the distance

So close you can almost taste it

Release your inhibitions



Feel the rain on your skin

No one else can feel it for you

Only you can let it in

No one else, no one else

Can speak the words on your lips

Drench yourself in words unspoken

Live your life with arms wide open

Today is where your book begins



Feel the rain on your skin

No one else can feel it for you

Only you can let it in

No one else, no one else

Can speak the words on your lips

Drench yourself in words unspoken

Live your life with arms wide open

Today is where your book begins

The rest is still unwritten

The rest is still unwritten

The rest is still unwritten

For My Friends

You will always be the light of my life....no matter what!

Thoughts for Thursday

Just living is not enough. One must have sunshine, freedom, and a little flower. ~Hans Christian Anderson



When I stand before God at the end of my life, I would hope that I would not have a single bit of talent left, and could say, "I used everything you gave me." ~Erma Bombeck


The purpose of life is a life of purpose. ~Robert Byrne


The miracle is not to fly in the air, or to walk on the water, but to walk on the earth. ~Chinese Proverb




I arise in the morning torn between a desire to improve the world and a desire to enjoy the world. This makes it hard to plan the day. ~Elwyn Brooks White


Life is simple, its just not easy. ~Author Unknown


A life without cause is a life without effect. ~Barbarella


Here is the test to find whether your mission on earth is finished. If you're alive, it isn't. ~Richard Bach

Dorothy Parker says.....

Hmmmm....me, too!

New Love

You have to walk carefully in the beginning of love;
the running across fields into your lover's arms can only come later when you're sure they won't laugh if you trip.
--Jonathan Carroll (Outside the Dog Museum)

If Someone Loves You.....

If someone loves you, love them back unconditionally, not only because they love you, but because they are teaching you to love and opening your heart and eyes to things you would have never seen or felt without them.

All One

The Storyteller's Creed by Robert Fulghum

I believe that imagination is stronger than knowledge,
That myth is more potent than history,
That dreams are more powerful than facts,
That hope always triumphs over experience,
That laughter is the only cure for grief,
And I believe that love is stronger than death.

Hope.....

"Let your hopes, not your hurts, shape your future." * Robert H. Schuller

Once you choose hope, anything's possible. ~Christopher Reeve

Hope is that thing with feathers that perches in the soul and sings the tune without the words and never stops... at all. ~Emily Dickinson

Hope begins in the dark, the stubborn hope that if you just show up and try to do the right thing, the dawn will come. ~Anne Lamott

To love means loving the unlovable.
To forgive means pardoning the unpardonable.
Faith means believing the unbelievable.
Hope means hoping when everything seems hopeless.
Gilbert K. Chesterton
1874-1936, British Author

Hope never abandons you, you abandon it. ~George Weinberg

Some see a hopeless end, while others see an endless hope.
~Author Unknown

Hope is patience with the lamp lit. ~Tertullian

Check out A Tale of Hope @ The Stories La Tells

Just Be...

Love ....Random Thoughts (not mine)

"Love is a temporary madness. It erupts like an earthquake and then subsides. And when it subsides you have to make a decision. You have to work out whether your roots have become so entwined together that it is inconceivable that you should ever part. Because this is what love is. Love is not breathlessness, it is not excitement, it is not the promulgation of promises of eternal passion. That is just being "in love" which any of us can convince ourselves we are.

Love itself is what is left over when being in love has burned away, and this is both an art and a fortunate accident. Your mother and I had it, we had roots that grew towards each other underground, and when all the pretty blossom had fallen from our branches we found that we were one tree and not two.
- Captain Corelli's Mandolin. "Love is the beauty of the soul."

--St. Augustine

"They said that if you are unable to sleep, it's because there's someone thinking about you...surely that person misses you.
That's why if you can't sleep, sorry, I can't help it."
Anonymous

Love is as much of an object as an obsession, everybody wants it, everybody seeks it, but few ever achieve it, those who do will cherish it, be lost in it, and among all, never... never forget it.
Curtis Judalet

Where love rules, there is no will to power; where power predominates, there love is lacking. The one is the shadow of the other.
Carl Jung

"When you are in Love you can't fall asleep because reality is better than your dreams."
Dr Seuss

"How can anyone be afraid of Love?"

She didn't understand that. "How can anyone be afraid of love?"

"How can they not?" His face was completely aghast. "When you love someone...truly love them, friend or lover, you lay your heart open to them. You give them a part of yourself that you give to no one else, and you let them inside a part of you that only they can hurt___you literally hand them the razor with a map of where to cut deepest and most painfully on your heart and soul. And when they do strike, it's crippling__like having your heart carved out. It leaves you naked and exposed, wondering what you did to make them want to hurt you so badly when all you did was love them. What is so wrong with you that no one can keep faith with you? That no one can love you? To have it happen once is bad enough.... but to have it repeated? Who in their right mind would not be terrified of that?"

Excerpt from Devil May Cry by Sherrilyn Kenyon

Why did I put this up?
Because when I read this it meant something to me.
Okay, I like to think I am an upbeat person and I don't dwell on the negative but this seemed to be soooo.....ummm.....I don't know....true???

So, what do you think?
Really.....I want to know.

I'll be waiting....somewhat impatiently for your answer!

Love, Laughter, Peace and Blessings y'all!
La

Hair!! To cut or not to cut?? Oy! What a question!!!

Yep! You guessed it. I am trying to decide whether to cut my hair.

(BY THE WAY.... NONE of these pics are ME! I just used them as examples...just wanted to mention it...back to our blog!)

I haven't really "changed" my hairstlye in ....well, apparently quite some time.
For those who do not know...and that would be most folks...I have "locs".
You know..some folks call them "dreads" or "dreadlocks" but really!
Is it just me? Or do those names sound really negative?
Dreads???
Anyway, I have had locs for maybe 10 years...can't remember.... and the most I have ever done to them is to cut them last winter.
They used to be down my back and now they are kinda, almost shoulder length.
Well, you have to see it.
Anyhoo, I am thinking of getting rid of the locs and going back to "twisting" my hair which is similar to locs but not as permanent.
For those not familiar with locs, the only way to get rid of them is to cut them off.
There is really no "un" locking them. So, usually that means your hair will be a mite short for awhile.
Back in the day...that would be in my late 20's early 30's I would just say..."What the hey! It's only hair. It will grow back."
But it would seem that in my 40's I have grown a little more cautious.
Sigh!!...does this mean I'm getting old???
I have some pics (you may have noticed) of women with short "natural" hair.
Natural meaning not relaxed, permed or staightened. I have nothing against any of those processes....I just don't want to do them.
Some of these pics are causing me to "flashback" to the 70's.


Hmmm...just realized I don't really have any pics of "older" women..ie 40's and above...with short natural styles.
I will have to go look.
Okay...found a few!
So, I'm thinking of doing this ....cutting my hair...this weeek.
So y'all need to opine FAST!!!!
I have included the pic of the lady with the lovely grey twists and the pic of the group Sweet Honey in the Rock, just to give you an idea of all of the natural styles out there. And cause I felt like it!
Love, Laughter, Peace and Blessings y'all!!

Shoot! Okay, since I used their pic, I figured I would end with a song from Sweet Honey. You might notice that the members are different in this vid but the music is always great. Enjoy!

Postscript......I DID IT!!! Yep! I cut my hair. It's actually not all that short but it is short enough. Presently, I am twisting it and trying to let it get a breather.
We will see what happens next!!!

Coffeee....Mornings.......Why??

more cat



more cat pictures


more cat pictures

Words of Wisdom (wish I had said that)

(this pic is a mandala called Wisdom Pearl by Richard A. Waters )


"Whenever you are asked if you can do a job, tell'em, 'certainly I can!' - and get busy and find out how to do it."
Theodore Roosevelt, 1858-1919, Twenty-Sixth U.S. President

"Obstacles can't stop you. Problems can't stop you. Most of all, other people can't stop you. Only you can stop you."
Jeffrey Gitomer, Author and Sales Trainer

"I live by this credo: Have a little laugh at life and look around you for happiness instead of sadness. Laughter has always brought me out of unhappy situations. Even in your darkest moment, you usually can find something to laugh about if you try hard enough."
Red Skelton, 1913-1997, Comedian

Today I Will Make A Difference

Today I will make a difference. I will begin by controlling my thoughts. A person is the product of their thoughts. I want to be happy and hopeful. Therefore, I will have thoughts that are happy and hopeful. I refuse to be victimized by my circumstances. I will not let petty inconveniences such as stoplights, long lines, and traffic jams be my masters. I will avoid negativism and gossip. Optimism will be my companion, and victory will be my hallmark. Today I will make a difference.

I will be grateful for the twenty-four hours that are before me. Time is a precious commodity. I refuse to allow what little time I have to be contaminated by self-pity, anxiety, or boredom. I will face this day with the joy of a child and the courage of a giant. I will drink each minute as though it is my last. When tomorrow comes, today will be gone forever. While it is here, I will use it for loving and giving. Today I will make a difference.

I will not let past failures haunt me. Even though my life is scarred with mistakes, I refuse to rummage through my trash heap of failures. I will admit them. I will correct them. I will press on. Victoriously. No failure is fatal. It's OK to stumble - I will get up. It's OK to fail - I will rise again. Today I will make a difference.

I will spend time with those I love. My spouse, my children, my family. A man can own the world but be poor for the lack of love. A man can own nothing and yet be wealthy in relationships. Today I will spend at least five minutes with the significant people in my world. Five quality minutes of talking or hugging or thanking or listening. Five undiluted minutes with my mate, children, and friends.

Today I will make a difference.

Max Lucado
From On The Anvil

"Living consciously involves being genuine; it involves listening and responding to others honestly and openly; it involves being in the moment."
Sidney Poitier, Actor and Author of The Measure of a Man

"Nurture your mind with great thoughts, for you will never go any higher than you think."
Benjamin Disraeli

"Remember not only to say the right thing in the right place, but far more difficult still, to leave unsaid the wrong thing at the tempting moment."
Benjamin Franklin, 1706-1790, Scientist, Publisher and Diplomat


"Don't judge each day by the harvest you reap, but by the seeds you plant."
Robert Louis Stevenson, 1850-1895, Essayist, Poet and Novelist

"You are, at this moment, standing, right in the middle of your own 'acres of diamonds.'"
Earl Nightingale, 1921-1989, Syndicated Radio Announcer and Author

"The world cares very little about what a man or woman knows; it is what the man or woman is able to do that counts."
Booker T. Washington, 1856-1915, Educator and Reformer

"Our self image and our habits tend to go together. Change one and you will automatically change the other."
Dr. Maxwell Maltz, 1899-1975, Author

"My father used to say to me, 'Whenever you get into a jam, whenever you get into a crisis or an emergency...become the calmest person in the room and you'll be able to figure your way out of it.'"
Rudolph Giuliani, Former Mayor of New York City

The Last Lecture..."Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams"

Many of you may have seen this lecture long before I did.
But for those who haven't or if it has been awhile please watch it again.
It is obviously very popular judging by the 4,221,441 hits it has had on Youtube.
I loved what Randy Pausch had to say.
It may not be new (yes, others have said the same or something similar) but it never hurts to hear these things again.

Randy Pausch died yesterday, July 25, 2008, and he has obviously left a wonderful legacy.
Here are some of the things that he said that hit me when I watched this vid.

"Experience is what you get when you don't get what you want."

"The Brick Walls are not there to keep us out. The Brick Walls are there to give us a chance to show how badly we want something."

"Get a feedback loop and listen to it."

"Show gratitude."

"Be good at something. It makes you valuable."

"Find the best in everybody; no matter how long you have to wait for them to show it."

"Be prepared: "Luck" is where preparation meets opportunity."

"What am I doing to Enable the childhood dreams of others?"

Please enjoy this vid!

Life is like......

Be......

We all have to BE something....some of us just can't decide what that something is.

Personally, I think I have tried most of these.






(yes, I have noted that the maker of this graphic can't spell...I apologize for the typos but it's still a good poem or whatever)


IN the end all you can do is be yourself......well, that's a lie.

You could do something else.
You could keep trying to be something you're not.
Or you could continue to be what others want you to be or what others think you should be.

Personally, I find that to be really tiresome.

Easier to BE YOURSELF...once you figure out who that is.

Peace, Love, Laughter and Blessings y'all!
La

People......

glitter-graphics.com