I had it on my wall for years, too, Meghan. Time to put it back up :)

I love the one from Audrey Hepburn. I've had it posted on my wall for a year or so.

Yes, the best way to find good friends is to be one; and if you put up a front and don't let people know the real you, they never have the chance to like, love, or respect the real you, because they're relating to someone who doesn't really exist. That kind of thing seems to generate a lot of comedy plots for movies and the TV, but isn't so great in real life.

My books are: The Addiction Counselor's Documentation Sourcebook, 2nd edition; The Addiction Treatment Homework Planner, 3rd edition with the 4th coming out in the spring; and Integrating the 12 Steps into Addiction Therapy. The first two I co-wrote with a colleague, Brenda Lenz, and the third I did solo. All are published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

As far as what I'd say to someone who was being judgmental - first, I'd point out that the American Medical Association decided decades ago, based on their research, that chemical dependence is a treatable disease, and ask them whether they really thought they knew more about it than professionals who've spent their whole careers working on this. If the person who is "on a high horse" has a moralistic attitude because of some kind of religiosity, I'd refer them back to what their own holy texts tell them about it, i.e. "Judge not, lest ye be judged..." and note that their own lives and behavior are also imperfect, though in different ways.
I'd also have to just keep in mind that I'm dealing with someone whose moral/psychological development is stunted and immature, someone who is blind to his or her own flaws and dark side because on some level he or she is afraid of those parts of self; so instead of looking in the mirror and saying, "Let me get my own act together here," (which takes work and courage), they take the easy, lazy way out - find someone else who has a problem they may not share, then attack and shame that person so they can bask in the self-righteous warmth of feeling superior.

All of which boils down to - it's their issue, not mine, and I refuse to buy into their outlook.

Be your self, or find your self and be you. Because when you are trying to impress everyone else then you lose yourself and people never really get to know you anyways. My uncle told me something when I was 14 years old that stuck with me and I am so glad that I listened. "Don't care if your popular. Want to be known as a nice person to all. Popular people become unpopular and nice people are always known as nice people." I kept this hanging in my bedroom and locker through highschool. I became friends with all kinds of people and still to this day 11 years after highschool people still say hello and are friendly to me. I had popular friends that say no one talks to them anymore.

James, What are the names of your books? I use to have addiction problems. One thing I have come to realize is that we all are addicted to something. Chocolate, alcohol, sugar, caffenine, cocaine, staying a certain weight, prescripted drugs... Some take our addiction to a different level than others. Alot of people looked down at the people who have addiction problems I like use to. Now I know I can easily slip back into my same addiction(s) or something brand new. What do you say to someone that is on their high horse pointing their finger at others who have addiction problems?

James, I love your thoughts. I appreciate you sharing. I really enjoyed them.

Some things I learned about worrying about other people's opinions of me - your post made me think of these, Blooming:

First, it's mostly futile to try to impress people - they don't usually notice because they're too busy trying to impress you.

Second, as a friend of mine put it, "What you think of me is none of my business."

Third, if someone is giving you a hard time, it helps to stop and ask yourself why. I've found that it can be effective, if someone says something hurtful, to just say, "Ow! That wasn't nice," but not to get worked up about it. Or if someone tells me about a rumor, is gossiping to me, etc., I'll just calmly look at them and ask, "Why are you telling me this - what's your motive? What do you expect to happen because of it?" It turns the situation around and puts them on the spot instead of you. If they're trying to generate some drama, as they usually are, they'll learn to go mess with someone else who's less frustrating than you and more inclined to play their game.

Nine out of ten people like chocolate. The one person is lying. ~from a thank you card quote given to me by my sister to celebrate getting my manuscript back from my editor.

If you don't have the time to read, you don't have the time or the tools to write.
~Stephen King

Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world.
~Albert Einstein

The difference between fiction and reality is that fiction has to make sense.
~Tom Clancy

First, find out what your hero wants. Then just follow him.
~Ray Bradbury

Oh, and I love Robert Frost...especially that poem!

Dee Marie

Unpredictable quote of the "day": Never eat more than you can lift." ~Miss Piggy

Those are great tips and thoughts for kids in middle school and high school...and beyond, Blooming! They are the kinds of skills we need all our lives. Thank you.

Well, I got this advice from my dad's friend. Well, normal teasing and verbal bullying might happen, mainly from girls. Like, calling names, teasing the way you look, etc. Well, just ignore it. hear from one hear, and let it go through the other.

If you're nervous about high school, take a deep breath. It won't be as bad as you think, (well i'm thinking it won't. I still have one more year till high school).

People get upset that they don't look good. They're afraid people will tease them about it, well don't think that way. Everyone looks beautiful no matter what others say. You have to believe that you're beautiful, then what ever other people say, you know, in your heart, that that is not true.

If you hear rumors about you, and it's not true, just ignore it. In your heart, somewhere, if you know that the rumor is not true, then don't care what others say. You know that it's not true, and that you do the right things.

These are practically tips you might have heard, but i was just giving them out for people who can use them.

So I came across this thought that I wrote down years ago and with some stuff that is going on right now in my life I thought it was just perfect! I hope you don't mind if I share...(and I don't know who it's by...sorry!)

"I am quite positive to the impossible!"

I'd love to hear what tips those might be...:) I might find them useful myself, Blooming!

Are we allowed to give tips that are not from someone else?

I was thinking of an advice for people who are in middle school going into high school.

Good thoughts, Rayni :)

In answer to "you sleep alone." All you have to do is find a deaf bed partner, hehe. You can snore all you want. But then on the other hand, if you have sleep apnea, your bed partner can't help with the dx.

Quote for the day: "Never, never give up." ~Winston Churchill

Seriously? Then maybe you'll like this quote from Audrey Hepburn, because you've definitely talked about this topic recently, I'm sure...

[Update: I just learned from my sister, and as she wrote in her blog: "Contrary to what some may think, Audrey Hepburn did not write this beautiful poem, Sam Levenson did. Levenson wrote "Time Tested Beauty Tips" for his grandchild, and it just so happened to be one of Audrey's favorite poems. She read it to her children on the very last Christmas Eve before she passed away."]

Beauty Tips

For attractive lips, speak words of kindness.

For lovely eyes, seek out the good in people.

For a slim figure, share your food with the hungry.

For beautiful hair, let a child run his or her fingers through it once a day.

For poise, walk with the knowledge that you never walk alone.

People, even more than things, have to be restored, renewed, revived, reclaimed and redeemed; never throw out anyone.

Remember, if you ever need a helping hand, you'll find one at the end of each of your arms. As you grow older, you will discover that you have two hands, one for helping yourself, the other for helping others.

The beauty of a woman is not in the clothes she wears, the figure that she carries, or the way she combs her hair. The beauty of a woman must be seen from in her eyes, because that is the doorway to her heart, the place where love resides.

The beauty of a woman is not in a facial mode, but the true beauty in a woman is reflected in her soul.

It is the caring that she lovingly gives the passion that she shows.

The beauty of a woman grows with the passing years.

This one made me laugh out loud! It is SO true!!! My roommates and I were actually having a conversation about this last night! Too funny!

The Road Not Taken, by Robert Frost

TWO roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that, the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I marked the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I,
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

Laugh and the world laughs with you. Snore and you sleep alone. ~Anthony Burgess (1917 - 1993)

BARTER, by Sarah Teasdale

Life has loveliness to sell,
All beautiful and splendid things;
Blue waves whitened on a cliff,
Soaring fire that sways and sings,
And children's faces looking up,

Holding wonder like a cup.

Life has loveliness to sell;
Music like a curve of gold,
Scent of pine trees in the rain,
Eyes that love you, arms that hold,
And, for the Spirit's still delight,
Holy thoughts that star the night.

Give all you have for loveliness;
Buy it, and never count the cost!
For one white, singing hour of peace
Count many a year of strife well lost;
And for a breath of ecstasy,
Give all you have been, or could be.

Love is what happens when you go through life together. ~James Thurber

hey im Julia Wright!

lol. it hasn't been for me for years, unfortunately.

LOL!

Chocolate isn't just for breakfast anymore.

~I got this quote from my friend, Julia Wright...

"There are two kinds of people on earth today,
Just two kinds of people, no more, I say.

Not the good and the bad, for 'tis well understood
The good are half bad and the bad are half good.

Not the happy and sad, for the swift-flying years
Bring each man his laughter and each man his tears.

Not the rich and the poor, for to count a man's wealth
You must first know the state of his conscience and health.

Not the humble and proud, for in life's busy span
Who puts on vain airs is not counted a man.

No! The two kinds of people on earth I mean
Are the people who lift and the people who lean.

Wherever you go you will find the world's masses
Are ever divided in just these two classes.

And, strangely enough, you will find, too, I ween,
There is only one lifter to twenty who lean.

In which class are you? Are you easing the load
Of overtaxed lifters who toil down the road?

Or are you a leaner who lets others bear
Your portion of worry and labor and care?

~Lifting and Leaning, by Ella Wheeler Wilcox

What are your favorite poems, jokes or quotes? (Clean jokes, please.)