Emilie Richards's Blog, page 12

Sunday Inspiration: Planting Trees

“The One Who Plants Trees,
Knowing That He Will Never Sit In Their Shade,
Has Started To Understand The Meaning Of Life.”
-Rabindranath Tagore

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Sunday Inspiration: Write it on your heart

Do you wish you could do yesterday all over again, only better? Are you sorry you haven’t done everything you meant to last week? Are you worried about tomorrow? Ralph Waldo Emerson has advice for all of us.

“Write it on your heart that every day is the best day in the year.
He is rich who owns the day,
and no one owns the day who allows it to be invaded with fret and anxiety.
Finish every day and be done with it.
You have done what you could.
Some blunders and absurdities, no doubt crept in.
Forget them as soon as you can, tomorrow is a new day;
begin it well and serenely,
with too high a spirit to be cumbered with your old nonsense.
This new day is too dear,
with its hopes and invitations,
to waste a moment on the yesterdays.”
–Ralph Waldo Emerson

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Sunday Inspiration: What is real?

“What is REAL?” asked the Rabbit one day…”

“Real isn’t how you are made,” said the Skin Horse. “It’s a thing that happens to you. When a child loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but REALLY loves you, then you become Real.”

“Does it hurt?” asked the Rabbit.

“Sometimes,” said the Skin Horse, for he was always truthful. “When you are Real you don’t mind being hurt.”

“Does it happen all at once, like being wound up,” he asked, “or bit by bit?”

“It doesn’t happen all at once,” said the Skin Horse. “You become. It takes a long time. That’s why it doesn’t often happen to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept. Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints and very shabby. But these things don’t matter at all, because once you are Real you can’t be ugly, except to people who don’t understand.”

from The Velveteen Rabbit by Margary Williams

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Sunday Inspiration: We are like books!

“We are like books.
Most people only see our cover,
the minority read
only the introduction,
many people believe
the critcs.
Few will know our content.”
~Emile Zola

Yes, we are all like books, aren’t we? But what kind of book are you: a mystery with many secrets to unravel, a romance with love guiding you on your path, an adventure with daring and risk being your north star, a suspense with intrigue and danger giving you purpose? Or perhaps you’re a mix of all the above, and more?

Just remember to keep your book open so that others will be invited to know who you as well as everything that gives you meaning.

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Sunday Inspiration: Everyone wants to save the world!

Several years ago, I invited a Buddhist monk to speak to my Senior elective class, and quite interestingly, as he entered the room, he didn’t say a word (that caught everyone’s attention).

He just walked to the board and wrote this: “EVERYONE WANTS TO SAVE THE WORLD, BUT NO ONE WANTS TO HELP MOM DO THE DISHES.” We all laughed.

But then he went on to say this to my students: “Statistically, it’s highly unlikely that any of you will ever have the opportunity to run into a burning orphanage and rescue an infant. But, in the smallest gesture of kindness — a warm smile, holding the door for the person behind you, shoveling the driveway of the elderly person next door — you have committed an act of immeasurable profundity, because to each of us, our life is our universe.”

This is my hope for you for the New Year, that by your smallest acts of kindness, you will save another’s world.

-John Perricone, Zen and the Art of Public School Teaching

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Sunday Inspiration: A Stone of Hope

We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality,
tied in a single garment of destiny.
Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.
There are some things in our social system
to which all of us ought to be maladjusted.
Hatred and bitterness can never cure the disease of fear,
only love can do that.
We must evolve for all human conflict a method
which rejects revenge, aggression, and retaliation.
The foundation of such a method is love.
Before it is too late,
we must narrow the gaping chasm
between our proclamations of peace
and our lowly deeds which precipitate and perpetuate war.
One day we must come to see that peace is not merely a distant goal
that we seek but a means by which we arrive at that goal.
We must pursue peaceful ends through peaceful means.
We shall hew of the mountain of despair, a stone of hope.
-Martin Luther King, Jr.

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Sunday Inspiration: Surprise yourself

“May your coming year be filled
with magic and dreams and good madness.
I hope you read some fine books
and kiss someone who thinks you’re wonderful,
and don’t forget to make some art —
write or draw or build or sing
or live only as you can.
And I hope, somewhere in the next year,
you surprise yourself.”
-Neil Gaiman

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Sunday Inspiration: What’s important?

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To start the new year, here’s some past inspiration worth repeating. Enjoy.

A professor stood before his philosophy class and had some items in front of him. When the class began, he wordlessly 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 beers 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—-your family, your children, your health, your friends and your favorite passions—-and 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, your house and your 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.

Pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness.

Spend time with your children. Spend time with your parents. Visit with grandparents. Take your spouse out to dinner. Play another 18. There will always be time to clean the house and mow the lawn.

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 beer represented. The professor smiled and said, ‘I’m glad you asked.’ The beer just shows you that no matter how full your life may seem, there’s always room for a couple of beers with a friend.

Now what has been important and meaningful to you in 2022, and what would you like to be important and meaningful to you in 2023?

Happy New Year friends and raise a glass high for a year of love and joy!

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Sunday Inspiration: The Spirit of Christmas

“The spirit of Christmas
is the spirit of love and of generosity and of goodness.
It illuminates the picture window of the soul,
and we look out upon the world’s busy life
and become more interested in people than in things.”
-Thomas S. Monson

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all of you, (including your four-legged friends).

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Sunday Inspiration: Lasting Memories

“It’s true, Christmas can feel like a lot of work, particularly for mothers. But when you look back at all the Christmases in your life, you’ll find you’ve created family traditions and lasting memories. Those memories, good or bad, are really what help keep a family together over the long haul.” -Caroline Kennedy

I can testify that as a mother of four children — and the wife of a minister — Christmas was never an easy time. Decorating, shopping, Christmas cards, parties, services, all made for a lot of chaos.

But looking back at those times now is like seeing a star shining in the night. And what a joy to witness our children reliving the traditions and creating new memories of their own with their children.

May you create many lasting memories this holiday season.

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