THERE ARE YEARS THAT...

“There are years that ask questions and years that answer.”

― Zora Neale Hurston, Their Eyes Were Watching God

KEEP YOUR THOUGHTS REAL

Keep Your Thoughts Real

If you let your mind wander too much, it can wander into some very dark places. Your thoughts can get so far away from reality that your life is impaired.

Yes, keep your mind open, let it run full throttle. But keep it on the pavement of reality.

You can literally think anything you choose to think, and those thoughts build upon one another. There is great power in your thinking, so use that power wisely.

One effective way to keep your thoughts focused where you want them to be focused is to write them down. That forces you to think about your thoughts rather than letting them build into obsessions.

Another useful tactic is to seek the feedback of others. If you have trouble explaining what you’re thinking, perhaps those thoughts are getting outside the bounds of reality.

Your thoughts have great power and influence over your life. Let them soar to the highest heights while also keeping them real.

— Ralph Marston

CONFLICT OR AMBIVALENCE

Conflict or Ambivalence

To push for a decision in the face of conflict or ambivalence
is a way of punishing yourself or others.
Don’t try to force a decision
when you aren’t ready to make one.

Instead, embrace both sides of the conflict.
Acknowledge all the things you want
about the job or the relationship
and all of the things that make you want to run away.

Get your psychic arms around all of it.
Relax and breathe through your anxiety and fear.
Take the pressure off.
Be with it all of it in a compassionate way.

This brings a peaceful acceptance,
from which clarity springs when it is time.

From Everyday Wisdom by Paul Ferrini
www.paulferrini.com

NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE

“People say nothing is impossible, but I do nothing every day.”

― A.A. Milne, Winnie-the-Pooh

FORGIVE YOURSELF AND MOVE ON

Forgive yourself and move on. Release the need to rehash, review or relive what you could have, should have or would have done. Instead, be aware of what you learned about yourself.

Look at what the situation showed you that you were unwilling to see. Forgive yourself...despite your choices, actions or inaction and in spite of your lack of knowledge or misplaced trust. There may be consequences and responsibilities that you must face.

Avoidance and denial are poor substitutes for decisive action. Stop swinging at yourself with a super-sized bat. Put it down, pick yourself up, dust yourself off and know this..you will learn to trust yourself again, despite what you may be feeling now. Be gentle on yourself. Choose to be stronger, wiser, more courageous, determined, and committed to living in the present and building a brighter future for yourself. Remember, you have something special. You have GREATNESS within you!!

LES BROWN

GIVING ADVICE

Giving Advice

When other people ask for your opinion or advice,
please share your experience with the caveat
that it might not apply to them.

Be vigilant and ask “Will my sharing
empower the other person?”
If the answer is “no”, then it is best to defer.

The best feedback that you can give to others
is the one that helps them to turn inward
to find their own truth.

From Everyday Wisdom by Paul Ferrini
www.paulferrini.com

BUT TO ADD COLOR TO MY SUNSET SKY

“Clouds come floating into my life, no longer to carry rain or usher storm, but to add color to my sunset sky.”

― Rabindranath Tagore, Stray Birds

MIRRORS

Mirrors

When two people are judging or blaming
you don't have communication; you have attack.

When you try to fix other people or they try to fix you,
you are probably both projecting.

Each of you will be mirroring to the other
a part of him or herself s/he does not want to look at.

From Everyday Wisdom by Paul Ferrini
www.paulferrini.com

YOU HAVE ENOUGH TIME

“Don't say you don't have enough time. You have exactly the same number of hours per day that were given to Helen Keller, Pasteur, Michaelangelo, Mother Teresa, Leonardo da Vinci, Thomas Jefferson, and Albert Einstein.”

― H. Jackson Brown Jr.

SIMPLY BECAUSE...

“I was smiling yesterday,I am smiling today and I will smile tomorrow. Simply because life is too short to cry for anything.”

― Santosh Kalwar, Quote Me Everyday

THE UNEXAMINED LIFE IS NOT WORTH LIVING

“The unexamined life is not worth living.”

― Socrates

SERVING OTHERS

Serving Others

You cannot serve others
if you are attached to what you offer
or how others receive it.

You must get out of the way
so that Spirit can work through you.

Service is an opportunity to love,
not a job description.

You cannot serve if you have
an identity or an agenda.
That just blocks the flow of energy
as it moves through you.

You need to be an empty vessel
and let the energy come and go as it pleases.

When you help someone else,
your help goes where it is needed.
You will never know all the people
who are touched by your loving actions,
nor do you need to know.


From Everyday Wisdom by Paul Ferrini
www.paulferrini.com

YOU FIND A HAND AT THE END OF YOUR ARM

“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 fingers through it once a day.

For poise, walk with the knowledge you’ll never walk alone.

...

We leave you a tradition with a future.

The tender loving care of human beings will never become obsolete.

People even more than things have to be restored, renewed, revived, reclaimed and redeemed and redeemed and redeemed.

Never throw out anybody.

Remember, if you ever need a helping hand, you’ll find one at the end of your arm.

As you grow older, you will discover that you have two hands: one for helping yourself, the other for helping others.

Your “good old days” are still ahead of you, may you have many of them.” 

― Sam Levenson, In One Era & Out the Other

SIMPLICITY

THE BODY

The Body

The body is not bad or inferior in any way.
It is simply temporal.

You will never find ultimate meaning
by satisfying its needs.

Nor might I add will you find ultimate meaning
by denying its needs.
Taking care of the body is an act of grace.
Preoccupation with bodily pleasures or pains
is anything but graceful.


From Everyday Wisdom by Paul Ferrini
www.paulferrini.com

AHEAD THE DEADLINES

Ahead of the Deadlines

You have the opportunity right now to avoid having to rush to get the job done at the last minute. Go ahead and do it now.

You can eliminate long stretches of resentful, hurried, ineffective efforts from your life. Simply get your work done sooner rather than later.

You can earn yourself time to think, to relax, to be free of deadlines. Just get out far ahead of those deadlines.

It’s better being in control of your time than to be striving to catch up with your obligations. Begin taking care of those obligations as soon as you have them and get them quickly out of the way.

This is your chance to make much more time in your life for doing what you want to do. The sooner you finish what you have to do, the more of that priceless, flexible time you’ll have.

Give your time first to what you have to do. You’ll be giving yourself a whole lot more quality moments to do whatever you love to do.

— Ralph Marston

DON'T JUDGE HUMANITY BY A FEW BAD APPLES

YOUR PATH

Your Path

Your path has its own simple beauty and mystery.
It is never what you think it is.

Yet it is never beyond your ability
to intuit the next step.

From Everyday Wisdom by Paul Ferrini
www.paulferrini.com

WHO IS RESPONSIBLE FOR LOVING YOU?

Who is responsible for Loving You?

Don't focus on how other people treat you.
Focus on how you treat yourself.

If you are in an abusive relationship, for example,
don’t focus on the abuser’s behavior.
Look instead at your own. 

Ask yourself if deciding to be with an abusive person
is a nice way to treat yourself.

Be responsible for loving and taking care of yourself.
Don't try to give this responsibility to anyone else.

Tell yourself "I am responsible for loving myself.
If I don't love myself, no one else will.“

If you are one-pointed in this practice,
you will stop betraying yourself.

And when your self-betrayal comes to an end,
you will not attract others who abuse you.


From Everyday Wisdom by Paul Ferrini
www.paulferrini.com

TRUTH ISN'T FOUND IN THE MARKETPLACE

Truth isn’t Found in the Marketplace

If you allow it, people will be only too glad
to make you jump through hoops
or stand in line in front of their concession stands.

Give them the chance, and they will be only too glad
to take your freedom away
and give you the bill for their time.

Don't play by their rules.
Don't line the pockets of those
who make empty promises to you.

It doesn't matter what they promise:
more wisdom, more love, more abundance,
more peace of mind, more enlightenment.
You already have more than
any of these people can offer you.
You just haven’t claimed it yet.


From Everyday Wisdom by Paul Ferrini
www.paulferrini.com