From Wisdom's Way...

MORE LIGHT AND LESS NOISE

A great story from one of America's greatest story-tellers, Abraham
Lincoln, was related by the president during those anxious days of the
American Civil War. A delegation of well-meaning patriots tried to
impress upon the president the gravity of the war. They implied that
his administration was neither as wise nor good as it ought to be. He
listened carefully, then responded with a memorable anecdote.

He told them that he once had a neighbor who found himself in a tight
situation. He was traveling home one dark and rainy night. There were
few bridges in the country and he came to a stream that he would have
to ford. But because of the darkness and the rain, he couldn't see
well enough to know just where to cross.

Lightning flashed and he saw his way for the briefest moment. But the
man was perplexed because there seemed to be more thunder than
lightning. He was convinced that every lightning flash was followed
by several loud peals of thunder. The poor man just stood at the edge
of the stream in his confusion about how to proceed. He finally
prayed, "O Lord, if it is just the same to you, give me more light and
less noise."

The delegation clearly got the point that the president needed more
solutions and less complaining - more light and less noise.

Some people are more like light and others are more like noise.

Some people shed light on solutions. Others only make a din about the
way things are.

Some people help us to see the situation more clearly. Others just
sound off about who's to blame.

Some people show a better way. Others clamor about the present course
of action.

Some people offer to help. Others wail about the problem.

The sun rises every morning and sheds light, vanquishing the night's
darkness. The rooster also rises every morning and makes noise, which
does nothing about the darkness.

How could things be different if you were more like the sun than the
rooster? What if you decided today to contribute to the light?

Steve Goodier

If I feel depressed I will sing.
If I feel sad I will laugh.
If I feel ill I will double my labour.
If I feel fear I will plunge ahead.
If I feel inferior I will wear new garments.
If I feel uncertain I will raise my voice.
If I feel poverty I will think of wealth to come.
If I feel incompetent I will think of past success.
If I feel insignificant I will remember my goals.
Today I will be the master of my emotions.




Your doubts have no power except for the power you give them. At any time
you can pull the plug. Those doubts, fears and other negative thoughts can
become so familiar that you may think they're a part of you. Yet they are
not a part of you. They are only things that you have chosen to hold. And
when you choose, you can let them go.

Imagine being free of the doubts, the anxieties, the fears. Then realize
that your imagination is the only place where they can possibly exist. When
you can imagine being free of them, you are indeed free of them. You have
the power at any time to pull the plug.


There is no need to tolerate even one more moment of being less than the
best you can be. Let go of those thoughts that hold you back, and let
yourself be free.


Ralph Marston


It Is I Who Must Begin

It is I who must begin.
Once I begin, once I try --
here and now,
right where I am,
not excusing myself
by saying things
would be easier elsewhere,
without grand speeches and
ostentatious gestures,
but all the more persistently
-- to live in harmony
with the "voice of Being," as I
understand it within myself
-- as soon as I begin that,
I suddenly discover,
to my surprise, that
I am neither the only one,
nor the first,
nor the most important one
to have set out
upon that road.

Whether all is really lost
or not depends entirely on
whether or not I am lost.

~ Vaclav Havel ~


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