Quotes That Grab Ya: April Digest

Enjoy!

1-Apr "Hearts rebuilt from hope resurrect dreams killed by hate." ― Aberjhani, "The River of Winged Dreams"
2-Apr "When people are ready to, they change. They never do it before then, and sometimes they die before they get around to it. You can't make them change if they don't want to, just like when they do want to, you can't stop them." ― Andy Warhol
3-Apr "If we can just let go and trust that things will work out they way they're supposed to, without trying to control the outcome, then we can begin to enjoy the moment more fully. The joy of the freedom it brings becomes more pleasurable than the experience itself." ― Goldie Hawn
4-Apr "We should notice that we are already supported at every moment. There is the earth below our feet and there is the air, filling our lungs and emptying them. We should begin from this when we need support." ― Natalie Goldberg, from "Writing Down the Bones"
5-Apr "Don't shrink your dreams. Super-size your courage and abilities." ― Karen Salmonsohn
6-Apr "I believe that if, at the end, according to our abilities, we have done something to make others a little happier, and something to make ourselves a little happier, that is about the best we can do. To make others less happy is a crime. To make ourselves unhappy is where all crime starts. We must try to contribute joy to the world. That is true no matter what our problems, our health, our circumstances. We must try. I didn't always know this and am happy I lived long enough to find it out." ― Roger Ebert, "Life Itself"
7-Apr "Those who believe that they believe in God, but without passion in their hearts, without anguish in mind, without uncertainty, without doubt, without an element of despair even in their consolation, believe only in the God idea, not God Himself." — Miguel de Unamuno
8-Apr "I want a life that sizzles and pops and makes me laugh out loud. And I don't want to get to the end, or to tomorrow, even, and realize that my life is a collection of meetings and pop cans and errands and receipts and dirty dishes. I want to eat cold tangerines and sing out loud in the car with the windows open and wear pink shoes and stay up all night laughing and paint my walls the exact color of the sky right now. I want to sleep hard on clean white sheets and throw parties and eat ripe tomatoes and read books so good they make me jump up and down, and I want my everyday to make God belly laugh, glad that he gave life to someone who loves the gift." ― Shauna Niequist
9-Apr "Hope has two beautiful daughters; their names are Anger and Courage. Anger at the way things are, and Courage to see that they do not remain as they are." ― St. Augustine of Hippo
10-Apr "How would your life be different if…You stopped allowing other people to dilute or poison your day with their words or opinions? Let today be the day…You stand strong in the truth of your beauty and journey through your day without attachment to the validation of others." ― Steve Maraboli
11-Apr "Do not take life too seriously. You will never get out of it alive." ― Elbert Hubbard
12-Apr "The future is not some place we are going, but one we are creating. The paths are not to be found, but made. And the activity of making them changes both the maker and their destination." ― John Schaar
13-Apr May all the artworks we produce -- in whatever category -- follow this idea: "Sometimes I arrive just when God's ready to have somone click the shutter." ― Ansel Adams
14-Apr "God is the comic shepherd who gets more of a kick out of that one lost sheep once he finds it again than out of the ninety and nine who had the good sense not to get lost in the first place. God is the eccentric host who, when the country-club crowd all turned out to have other things more important to do that come live it up with him, goes out into the skid rows and soup kitchens and charity wards and brings home a freak show. The man with no legs who sells shoelaces at the corner. The old woman in the moth-eaten fur coat who makes her daily rounds of the garbage cans. The old wino with his pint in a brown paper bag. The pusher, the whore, the village idiot who stands at the blinker light waving his hand as the cars go by. They are seated at the damask-laid table in the great hall. The candles are all lit and the champagne glasses filled. At a sign from the host, the musicians in their gallery strike up 'Amazing Grace.'" ― Frederick Buechner
15-Apr "So. Monday. We meet again. We will never be friends - but maybe we can move past our mutual enmity toward a more positive partnership." ― Julio-Alexi Genao
16-Apr "Violence is a disease, a disease that corrupts all who use it regardless of the cause." ― Chris Hedges
17-Apr "People tend to be generous when sharing their nonsense, fear, and ignorance. And while they seem quite eager to feed you their negativity, please remember that sometimes the diet we need to be on is a spiritual and emotional one. Be cautious with what you feed your mind and soul. Fuel yourself with positivity and let that fuel propel you into positive action." ― Steve Maraboli
(no quotes for April 18-20)
21-Apr "If I didn't get lost, my master wouldn't seek me." ― Toba Beta
22-Apr "You get your intuition back when you make space for it, when you stop the chattering of the rational mind. The rational mind doesn't nourish you. You assume that it gives you the truth, because the rational mind is the golden calf that this culture worships, but this is not true. Rationality squeezes out much that is rich and juicy and fascinating." ― Anne Lamott, Bird by Bird
23-Apr "To have faith is to trust yourself to the water. When you swim you don't grab hold of the water, because if you do you will sink and drown. Instead you relax, and float." ― Alan Wilson Watts
24-Apr "A friend is someone who knows the song in your heart and can sing it back to you when you have forgotten the words." ― Unknown
25-Apr "Forget yesterday: it has already forgotten you. Don't sweat tomorrow: you haven't even met. Instead, open your eyes and your heart to a truly precious gift: today." ― Steve Maraboli
26-Apr (none)
27-Apr So in honor of my old college pals The Killer B's: "With the interconnectedness of it all, the world is more fluid than ever. I blame it on the rain. Milli Vanilli was ahead of their time." ― Jarod Kintz
28-Apr "Love one another and help others to rise to the higher levels, simply by pouring out love. Love is infectious and the greatest healing energy." ― Sai Baba
29-Apr "The expression 'my life' is actually an oxymoron, a result of ignorance and mistaken assumption. You don’t posses life; life expresses itself through you. Your body is a flower that life let bloom, a phenomenon created by life." ― Ilchi Lee
30-Apr "I'd rather take coffee than compliments just now." ― Louisa May Alcott ......... BONUS QUOTE: "Coffee - the favorite drink of the civilized world." ― Thomas Jefferson
"Even bad coffee is better than no coffee at all." ― David Lynch (I will TOTALLY disagree with this one...)
"The powers of a man's mind are directly proportioned to the quantity of coffee he drinks." ― James Mackintosh (a/k/a You're Not Drinking Enough)
"Coffee and chocolate—the inventor of mocha should be sainted." ― Cherise Sinclair

There Is No Try, Only Do

So I was driving back from lunch when I saw a sign reading, "Learn to Sing; Call xxx-yyyy." And I thought, "Really??"

The way I see it, you cannot learn to sing. Oh, you can learn how to improve your vocal skills so that you're more on pitch and I rhythm. But you cannot LEARN to sing.

It is already there. Life has given you a song if you are brave enough to open up your mouth, your vocal cords and just let things fly. There is no "learning" to sing but just giving voice to what is already in your spirit and your heart. The song is there; the voice is there; is your bravery there?

That is what must be learned, it seems. Finding the courage to sing your song...

There is no try, only do.

A big reveal....

Today, I had a photo shoot.... okay, the first one I ever had that wasn't followed by the words, "Now go over there and pick the one you'd like to appear in the yearbook (church directory, etc.)." I found a local photographer who does vintage/pin-up style photography and decided I had to do this.

So the photographer and I drove in town and found a house to use.... to be fair, I thought it was vacant, but I found out later (after it was all over) that nope, people do live there, they just weren't there at the time. Oh well! We also used the front/roadside steps of the parents of some of my brother's friends - they were very kind enough to say yes to Melissa's request and their red and yellow flowers worked very nicely with my white-and-purple floral dress. Then I changed into another outfit and we used some empty buildings right on one of the primary business streets. Hey, a whole block of empty buildings and a few props and it was awesome!

Melissa showed me some of the shots on the camera, and I was in awe. But more than that, I noticed something I never had until today.........

All my life, I have wondered why I didn't really look like either of my parents. I don't necessarily "favor" one or the other, I have enough elements from both that it's a blend. But a couple of years back, one of the people I grew up with noted to me on Facebook that I looked like a younger, thinner version of my mom.

My mom? Really? I didn't see it. I have the lightest hair in the family, more like my dad's. I have his blue eyes. I definitely have his personality. But my mom, no. I have a coworker whose wife said, "I guess I was just an incubator" because when they were little, they both looked far more like their dad than their mom. And I could relate.

But looking at those photos today, I could really see it. I have my mom's senior yearbook (mid-50s) and seeing her in those pictures ... and seeing my own today ... was rather jarring. Obviously I'll always have my dad's eyes, his wit, his personality, but when I speak sometimes, I hear my mother's words or her inflections or tone coming out my mouth. I once saw a pillow that said, "Mirror, mirror on the wall, I've become my mother after all." I used to roll my eyes and think, "Oh, no!" And now......

Very interesting day.