World peace starts with inner peace.
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If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or, being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or, being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise;
If you can dream - and not make dreams your master;
If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with triumph and disaster
And treat those two imposters just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with wornout tools;
If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breath a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on";
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings - nor lose the common touch;
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run -
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And - which is more - you'll be a Man my son!
- Rudyard Kipling "IF"
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Dream what you want to dream, go where you want to go, be what you want to be because you only have one life and one chance to do all of the things you want to. May you have enough happiness to make you sweet, enough trials to make you strong, enough sorrow to keep you human, enough hope to make you happy. -unknown
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We can't define happiness in terms of getting our desires fulfilled, because they may be based on addiction, obsession, or plain old faulty reasoning. Our desires may also be warped by social pressure -- compelling us to buy things we don't need with money we don't have to impress people we don't know -- as the old adage goes. - Julia Annas, a philosophy professor at the University of Arizona and author of 'The Morality of Happiness'
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If you want to know the end, look at the beginning.
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To accomplish great things, we must not only act, but also dream; not only plan, but also believe.
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Thomas Edison held 1,093 patents. He guaranteed productivity by giving himself and his assistants idea quotas. In a study of 2,036 scientists throughout history, Dean Keith Simonton of the University of California at Davis found that the most respected scientists produced not only great works, but also many "bad" ones. They weren't afraid to fail, or to produce mediocre in order to arrive at excellence.
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Natural beauty comes in all colors, strength in many forms. When we learn to honor the differences and appreciate the mix, we're in harmony. - unknown
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He who receives an idea from me, receives instruction himself without lessening mine; as he who lights his taper at mine, receives light without darkening me. That ideas should freely spread from one to another over the globe, for the moral and mutual instruction of man, and improvement of his condition, seems to have been peculiarly and benevolently designed by nature, when she made them, like fire, expansible over all space, without lessening their density in any point, and like the air in which we breathe, move, and have our physical being, incapable of confinement or exclusive appropriation. Inventions then cannot, in nature, be a subject of property. Society may give an exclusive right to the profits arising from them, as an encouragement to men to pursue ideas which may produce utility, but this may or may not be done, according to the will and convenience of the society, without claim or complaint from any body.
Thomas Jefferson, letter to Isaac McPherson, 1813
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I found the following passage in a book written by Gavin de Becker in 1997 entitled: "The Gift of Fear, Survival Signals that Protect Us From Violence," Boston: Little Brown (pages 228-9). It essentially explains the dynamics of learned helplessness. "The way circus elephants are trained demonstrates this dynamic well: When young, they are attached by heavy chains to large stakes driven deep into the ground. They pull and yank and strain and struggle, but the chain is too strong, the stake too rooted. One day they give up, having learned that they cannot pull free, and from that day forward they can be "chained" with a slender rope. When this enormous animal feels any resistance, though it has the strength to pull the whole circus tent over, it stops trying. Because it believes it cannot, it cannot."
"You'll never amount to anything"; "You can't sing"; You're not smart enough"; Your're a loser"; "You should have more realistic goals"; "You're the reason our marriage broke up"; "Without you kids I'd have had a chance"; You're worthless"-(more)-"This opera is being sung in homes all over America right now, the stakes driven into the ground, the heavy chains attached, the children reaching the point they believe they cannot pull free. And at that point, they cannot."
"Unless and until something changes their view, unless they grasp the striking fact that they are tied with a thread, that the chain is an illusion, that they were fooled, and ultimately, that whoever so fooled them was wrong about them and that they were wrong about themselves-- unless all this happens, these children are not likely to show society their positive attributes as adults."
Last updated 22 September 1998
Copyright © 1998 by Duen Hsi Yen, All rights reserved.
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Soul of the New Machine / Blog
Peace
World peace starts with inner peace.
Reply
IF
If you can keep your head when all about you Are losing theirs and blaming it on you; If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you, But make allowance for their doubting too; If you can wait and not be tired by waiting, Or, being lied about, don't deal in lies, Or, being hated, don't give way to hating, And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise;
If you can dream - and not make dreams your master; If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim; If you can meet with triumph and disaster And treat those two imposters just the same; If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools, Or watch the things you gave your life to broken, And stoop and build 'em up with wornout tools;
If you can make one heap of all your winnings And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss, And lose, and start again at your beginnings And never breath a word about your loss; If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew To serve your turn long after they are gone, And so hold on when there is nothing in you Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on";
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue, Or walk with kings - nor lose the common touch; If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you; If all men count with you, but none too much; If you can fill the unforgiving minute With sixty seconds' worth of distance run - Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it, And - which is more - you'll be a Man my son! - Rudyard Kipling "IF"
Reply
Dream
Dream what you want to dream, go where you want to go, be what you want to be because you only have one life and one chance to do all of the things you want to. May you have enough happiness to make you sweet, enough trials to make you strong, enough sorrow to keep you human, enough hope to make you happy. -unknown
Reply
Define Happiness
We can't define happiness in terms of getting our desires fulfilled, because they may be based on addiction, obsession, or plain old faulty reasoning. Our desires may also be warped by social pressure -- compelling us to buy things we don't need with money we don't have to impress people we don't know -- as the old adage goes. - Julia Annas, a philosophy professor at the University of Arizona and author of 'The Morality of Happiness'
Reply
Know
If you want to know the end, look at the beginning.
Reply
Believe
To accomplish great things, we must not only act, but also dream; not only plan, but also believe.
Reply
Not Afraid To Fail
Thomas Edison held 1,093 patents. He guaranteed productivity by giving himself and his assistants idea quotas. In a study of 2,036 scientists throughout history, Dean Keith Simonton of the University of California at Davis found that the most respected scientists produced not only great works, but also many "bad" ones. They weren't afraid to fail, or to produce mediocre in order to arrive at excellence.
Reply
Harmony
Natural beauty comes in all colors, strength in many forms. When we learn to honor the differences and appreciate the mix, we're in harmony. - unknown
Reply
He Who Receives An Idea From Me
He who receives an idea from me, receives instruction himself without lessening mine; as he who lights his taper at mine, receives light without darkening me. That ideas should freely spread from one to another over the globe, for the moral and mutual instruction of man, and improvement of his condition, seems to have been peculiarly and benevolently designed by nature, when she made them, like fire, expansible over all space, without lessening their density in any point, and like the air in which we breathe, move, and have our physical being, incapable of confinement or exclusive appropriation. Inventions then cannot, in nature, be a subject of property. Society may give an exclusive right to the profits arising from them, as an encouragement to men to pursue ideas which may produce utility, but this may or may not be done, according to the will and convenience of the society, without claim or complaint from any body.
Thomas Jefferson, letter to Isaac McPherson, 1813
Reply
Training Circus Elephants
I found the following passage in a book written by Gavin de Becker in 1997 entitled: "The Gift of Fear, Survival Signals that Protect Us From Violence," Boston: Little Brown (pages 228-9). It essentially explains the dynamics of learned helplessness. "The way circus elephants are trained demonstrates this dynamic well: When young, they are attached by heavy chains to large stakes driven deep into the ground. They pull and yank and strain and struggle, but the chain is too strong, the stake too rooted. One day they give up, having learned that they cannot pull free, and from that day forward they can be "chained" with a slender rope. When this enormous animal feels any resistance, though it has the strength to pull the whole circus tent over, it stops trying. Because it believes it cannot, it cannot."
"You'll never amount to anything"; "You can't sing"; You're not smart enough"; Your're a loser"; "You should have more realistic goals"; "You're the reason our marriage broke up"; "Without you kids I'd have had a chance"; You're worthless"-(more)-"This opera is being sung in homes all over America right now, the stakes driven into the ground, the heavy chains attached, the children reaching the point they believe they cannot pull free. And at that point, they cannot."
"Unless and until something changes their view, unless they grasp the striking fact that they are tied with a thread, that the chain is an illusion, that they were fooled, and ultimately, that whoever so fooled them was wrong about them and that they were wrong about themselves-- unless all this happens, these children are not likely to show society their positive attributes as adults."
Last updated 22 September 1998
Copyright © 1998 by Duen Hsi Yen, All rights reserved.
Reply