State of Mind

If you think you are beaten, you are;
If you think you dare not, you don't!
If you'd like to win, but you think you can't,
It's almost certain you won't.
If you think you'll lose, you're lost;
For out in the world we find
Success begins with a fellow's will;
It's all in the state of mind!
If you think you're outclassed, you are;
You've got to think high to rise.
You've got to be sure of yourself
Before you 'll ever win the prize.
Life's battles don't always go
To the stronger or faster man;
But sooner or later the man who wins
Is the person who thinks he can!
[Author Unknown]

Mother Teresa

(1910-1997)

Albanian-born Roman Catholic Missionary

A joyful heart is the inevitable result of a heart burning with love.
Do not wait for leaders; do it alone, person to person.

God is the friend of silence.
See how nature - trees, flowers, grass - grows in silence;
see the stars, the moon and the sun, how they move in silence.
We need silence to be able to touch souls.

If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that
we belong to each other.I

f you judge people, you have no time
to love them.It is not a matter of thinking a great deal but of loving
a great deal, so do whatever arouses you most to love.

Kind words can be short and easy to speak,
but their echoes are truly endless.

Learn to self-conquest, persevere thus for a time,
and you will perceive very clearly the advantage which y
ou gain from it.

Let no one ever come to you without leaving better and happier.
Be the living expression of God's kindness:
kindness in your face, kindness in your eyes,
kindness in your smile.

Loneliness is the most terrible poverty.
Love is a fruit in season at all times,
and within reach of every hand.

The hunger for love is much more difficult
to remove than the hunger for bread.

The most terrible poverty is loneliness
and the feeling of being unloved.

We can do no great things;
only small things with great love.

We ourselves feel that what we are doing
is just a drop in an ocean.
But the ocean would be less
because of that missing drop.

Those Who Are
Colleen Smith

To an infant those who are older are security,
or those who are older are our first pain
To a toddler those who are older are givers,
or those who are older are the first taste of life withheld.
To a school age child those who are older are teachers,
or those who are older don't notice I
To a teenager those who are older are listeners,
or those who are older live our life out of there own regrets
To a young adult those who are older are something we strive to be,
or those who are older are something we want to avoid being
To a middle-age person those who are older are reminders of happy memories,
or those who are older are reminders of painful memories
To an old timer those who are older are where wisdom resides,
or those who are older are a burden and know nothing
To a senior, those who are older are a miracle,
or those who are older are waiting to die.

Children Are ...
Meiji Stewart

Amazing, ACKNOWLEDGE THEM.
Believable, TRUST THEM.
Childlike, ALLOW THEM.
Divine, HONOR THEM.
Energetic, NOURISH THEM.
Fallible, EMBRACE THEM.
Gifts, TREASURE THEM.
Here Now, BE WITH THEM.
Innocent, DELIGHT WITH THEM.
Joyful, APPRECIATE THEM.
Kindhearted, LEARN FROM THEM.
Lovable, CHERISH THEM.
Magical, FLY WITH THEM.
Noble, ESTEEM THEM.
Open minded, RESPECT THEM.
Precious, VALUE THEM.
Questioners, ENCOURAGE THEM.
Resourceful, SUPPORT THEM.
Spontaneous, ENJOY THEM.
Talented, BELIEVE IN THEM.
Unique, AFFIRM THEM.
Vulnerable, PROTECT THEM.
Whole, RECOGNIZE THEM.
Xtraspecial, CELEBRATE THEM.
Yearning, NOTICE THEM.
Zany, LAUGH WITH THEM.

Old Age
Edgar A. Guest


I used to think that growing old was reckoned just in years,
But who can name the very date when weariness appears?
I find no stated time when man, obedient to a law,
Must settle in an easy chair and from the world withdraw.

Old Age is rather curious, or so it seems to me.
I know old men at forty and young men at seventy-three.
I'm done with counting life by years or temples turning gray.

No man is old who wakes with joy to greet another day.
What if the body cannot dance with youth's elastic spring?
There's many a vibrant interest to which the mind can cling.
'Tis in the spirit Age must dwell, or this would never be:
I know old men at forty and young men at seventy-three.

Some men keep all their friendships warm, and welcome friendships new,
They have no time to sit and mourn the things they used to do.
This changing world they greet with joy and never bow to late;
On every fresh adventure they set out with hearts elate

From chilling fear and bitter dread they keep their spirits free
While some seem old at forty they stay young at seventy-three.
So much to do, so much to learn, so much in which to share!
With twinkling eyes and minds alert some brave both time and care.

And this I've learned from other men, that only they are old
Who think with something that has passed the tale of life is told.
For Age is not alone of time, or we should never see
Men old and bent at forty and men young at seventy-three.

Influence
Joseph Norris

Drop a pebble in the water,
And its ripples reach out far;
And the sunbeams dancing on them
May reflect them to a star.

Give a smile to someone passing,
Thereby making his morning glad;
It may greet you in the evening
When your own heart may be sad.

Do a deed of simple kindness;
Though its end you may not see,
It may reach, like widening ripples,
Down a long eternity.