Saturday, December 11, 2010

"As a Man Thinketh" Quotes

As A Man Thinketh, by James Allen is a vary slim book, almost a pamphlet, but it is full of good gems like these:

"You are a maker of yourself by virtue of thought - the thoughts that you choose and encourage."

"The Mind is the master weaver both of the inner garment of character and the outer garment of circumstances... Weave in enlightenment and happiness."

"Every action is preceded by a thought." This one I have been taught my whole life.
In fact, in the Book of Mormon, Mosiah 4:30 it says, "But this much I can tell you, that if ye do not watch yourselves, and your thoughts, and your words, and your deeds, and observe the commandments of God, and continue in the faith of what ye have heard concerning the coming of our Lord, even unto the end of your lives, ye must perish. And now, O man, remember, and perish not."

Anway, back to more quotes from As a Man Thinketh:

"Right thinking takes continued effort the effect of long-cherished association with God-like thoughts."

"Man is made or unmade by himself."
Paraphrased the next part talks about the armoury (place where weapons are made) of thought forges the weapons to destroy himself or forges the tools with which he builds for himself heavenly mansions of joy and strength and peace.
I love the imagery of our thoughts making weapons to destroy ourselves or making tools to build ourselves, our character and our heavenly mansions.

"Man is the master of thought
the moulder of character of character
and the maker and shaper of condition,
environment and
destiny."

I'm not sure if this is a direct quote or paraphrased in my notes:
"Man is a being of Power,
Intelligence,
& Love,
& Lord of his own thoughts,
& holds the key to every situation,
& contains within himself that transforming and regenerative agency by which he may make himself what he wills."

"To become a conscious master, directing his energies with intelligence - Man must discover within himself the laws of thought; which discovery is totally a matter of application, self-analysis and experience."

"You are the maker of your character the moulder of your life and the builder of your destiny."

"If man will watch, control and alter his thoughts, tracing their effects upon himself, upon others, upon his life and circumstances, linking cause and effect by patient practice and investigation."

"Utilize every experience"... "as a means of obtaining that knowledge of himself - Then he will have Understanding, Wisdom and Power and find every truth connected with his being."

"The mind is like a garden, which may be intelligently cultivated or allowed to run wild. Whether cultivated or neglected, it will bring forth if no useful seeds are put into it, then an abundance of useless weed-seeds will fall therein, and continue to produce their kind."

"We are here to learn and grow. We can command the hidden soil and seeds out of which circumstances grow."

"So true is this that when a man earnestly applies himself to remedy the defects in his character and makes swift and marked progress, he passes rapidly through a succession of vicissitudes." (I admit to looking up the word vicissitude. It means an irregular, unexpected, or surprising change.)

"The soul attracts that which it secretly harbours; that which it loves, and that which it fears."
It has an analogy here of a person who fears getting cancer, eventually gets cancer. We don't need to fear anything. Fear is the opposite of faith. It also kind of reminds me of Ghostbusters, when Gozer tells them to choose what will destroy them, so they try to clear their minds and think of nothing, but Peter says, "I couldn't help it. It just popped into my head...I tried to think of the most harmless thing. Something I loved from my childhood. Something that could never ever possibly destroy us. Mr. Stay Puft!" O.K. that was a little off the topic, but it's just an illustration of how we need to control our thoughts.


"Circumstances does not make the man; it reveals him to himself."

"Not what he wishes and prays for does a man get, but what he justly earns. His wishes and prayers are only gratified and answered when they harmonize with his thoughts and actions."
Can't pray for one thing and have your actions make that thing impossible to happen.

"Men are anxious to improve their circumstances, but are unwilling to improve themselves, they therefore remain bound."

"Suffering is always the effect of wrong thought in some direction. It is an indication that the individual is out of harmony with himself, with the Low of his being. The sole and supreme use of suffering is to purify, to burn out all that is useless and impure. Suffering ceases for him who is pure."

"Blessedness, not material possessions, is the measure of right thought... blessedness and riches are only joined together when the riches are rightly and wisely used.
Indigence and indulgence are the two extremes of wretchedness. They are both equally unnatural and the result of mental disorder."

"A man only begins to be a man when he ceases to whine and revile, and commences to search for hidden justice which regulates his life. And as he adapts his mind to that regulating factor, he ceases to accuse others as the cause of his condition, and builds himself up in strong and noble thoughts; ceases to kick against circumstances, but begins to use them as aid to his more rapid progress, and as a means of discovering the hidden powers and possibilities within himself."

"A particular train of thought persisted in, be it good or bad cannot fail to produce its results on the character and circumstances. A man cannot directly choose his circumstances, but he can choose his thoughts, and so indirectly, yet surely, shape his circumstances." Whatever our internal dialog, becomes reality.

"Strong, pure, happy thoughts build up the body in vigor and grace."

"Clean thoughts make clean habits."

"...To think well of all, to be cheerful withall, to patiently learn to find the good in all - such unselfish thoughts are the very portals of heaven; and to dwell day by day in thoughts of peace toward every creature will bring abounding peace to their possessor."

"Until thought is linked with purpose there is no intelligent accomplishment.
Aimlessness is a vice, and such drifting must not continue for him who would steer clear of catastrophe and destruction.
They who have no central purpose in their life fall an easy prey to worries, fears, troubles, and self-pityings, all of which are indications of weakness, which lead, just as surely as deliberately planned sins (though by a different route), to failure, unhappiness, and loss, for weakness cannot persist in a power evolving universe."

"A man shall conceive of a legitimate purpose in his heart, and set out to accomplish it. He should make this purpose the centralizing point of his thoughts."

"Slay doubt and fear or thwart yourself."

"Strength can only be developed by effort and practice." I think this is true whether it be physical, mental or spiritual strength. When our lives are too easy or we don't challenge ourselves, then we don't get stronger.

"Begin to exert yourself and add effort to effort, patience to patience, and strength to strength; never cease to develop and at last grow divinely strong.
Exercise yourself in right thinking. Put away aimlessness and weakness, and begin to think with purpose - that is to enter the ranks of those strong ones who only recognize failure as one of the pathways to attainment; who make all conditions serve them, and who think strongly, attempt fearlessly, and accomplish masterfully."

"Thought allied fearlessly to purpose becomes creative force: he who knows this is ready to become something higher and stronger than a mere bundle of wavering thoughts and fluctuating sensations; he who does this has become the conscious and intelligent wielder of his mental powers."

"There can be no progress, no achievement without sacrifice."

"Eat, Pray, Love" Quotes

This is a great quote about happiness from the above titled book by Elizabeth Gilbert:
"...People tend to think that happiness is a stroke of luck, something that will maybe descend upon you like fine weather if you're fortunate enough. But that's not how happiness works. Happiness is the consequence of personal effort. You fight for it, strive for it, insist upon it. You have to participate relentlessly in the manifestations of your own blessings. And once you have achieved a state of happiness, you must never become lax about maintaining it, you must make a mighty effort to keep swimming upward into that happiness forever, to stay afloat on top of it. If you don't you will leak away your innate contentment. It's easy enough to pray when you're in distress but continuing to pray even when your crisis has passed is like a sealing process, helping your soul hold tight to its good attainments."

Actually, there are parts of that quote that I like and parts that I don't. It almost makes it sound like you have to work so hard for happiness that I picture someone gripping onto a rope of happiness, hanging in the air and holding on with all their might. Frankly, the thought of working so hard to be happy doesn't sound very happy-making to me. I don't think it's that hard to be happy, if you have peace in your heart.
I suppose sometimes we might get ourselves into a situation which is causing unhappiness (like Gilbert in her many relationships) and then we have to WORK to change the situation in order to be happy again. We can't just think happiness will come from an external source, although unhappiness can in which case, sometimes, we have to remove ourselves.

But, I think if we are making morally right choices, then happiness is pretty easy.
Or maybe I just have an easy life with the knowledge of the gospel of Jesus Christ, so it's easy for me to be happy.

Anyway, I like some of Gilbert's quotes about prayer:
"Of course God already knows what I need. The question is - do I know? Casting yourself at God's feet in helpless desperation is all well and good- heaven knows, I've done it myself plenty of times-but ultimately you're likely to get more out of the experience if you can take some action on your end." (Here is the joke about the guy who fervently prays to win the lottery only to get a response from God that he needs to buy a ticket first.)

"Prayer is a relationship; half the job is mine. If I want transformation, but can't even be bothered to articulate what, exactly, I'm aiming for, how will it ever occur? Half the benefit of prayer is in the asking itself, in the offering of a clearly posed and well-considered intention. ... Prayers can become stale and drone into the boring and familiar if you let your attention stagnate. In making an effort to stay alert, I am assuming custodial responsibility for the maintenance of my own soul."

If she doesn't feel sincere in her prayers, then she stays there until she does.

Also, this quote about destiny is good:
"Destiny, I feel, is also a relationship - a play between divine grace and willful self-effort. Half of it you have no control over; half of it is absolutely in your hands, and your actions will show measurable consequence. Man is neither entirely a puppet of the gods, nor is he entirely the captain of his won destiny; he's a little of both. ... I can decide how I spend my time, whom I interact with, whom I share my body and life and money and energy with. I can select what I eat and read and study. I can choose how I"m going to regard unfortunate circumstances in my life - whether I will see them as curses or opportunities (and on the occasions when I can't rise to teh most optimistic viewpoint, because I'm feeling too [] sorry for myself, I can choose to keep trying to change my outlook). I can choose my words and teh tone of voice in which I speak to others. And most of all, I can choose my thoughts.
This last concept is a radically new idea for me."

The last concept is not a new idea for me. I think I've been taught that my whole life, but I think it has more power than we sometimes realize, which will be part of my next post.

Wednesday, December 8, 2010

Diamonds Under Your Nose

I like this article by Oliver DeMille.
http://www.tjed.org/resources/newsletter/december-2010-inspire/

It's about the power of doing the little things.
Here is a good quote from it:
"Find the little things in your life, the things too small to demand your urgent attention, the ones that too often go undone because they are so easy to dismiss. That’s where your power is. That’s the “tipping point” in your life. List them. Do them. Watch your life drastically change."

Monday, November 8, 2010

Quotes

I have come across a few priceless quotes lately.

I'll start with a serious one from "Not Becoming My Mother, & other things she taught me along the way," by Ruth Reichl:
"Throughout human history beauty has been seen as a gift from God, but Mom had another notion; she thought that beauty could be earned through self-knowledge."

I agree with this statement. When people have confidence in themselves, when they are comfortable in their own skin, then it shows in their demeanor and they way they carry themselves and take care of themselves.
However, the other side of the coin is that when people act graciously, that makes them more beautiful, too. You can see someone you think is gorgeous, but then you see that they act like a jerk and they suddenly don't seem so attractive anymore.


This other quote is from the NaNoWriMo welcome letter. It just makes me chuckle:
"The looming specter of personal humiliation is a very reliable muse."
How right they are!
That's right folks, one complete week of this month already gone and I foolishly signed up to write a 50,000 word novel before it is over! What was I thinking!? Well now I'm thinking I sure have neglected my blog for a long time. I didn't stick to my goal of writing once or twice a month and now I've set an even loftier goal.
Asi es la vida!

Thursday, July 29, 2010

Nutrition Quote

"...[S]oil depletion and years of overfertilizing our soils have resulted in nutrient-depleted food. That's why I recommend a good multivitamin-mineral source for everyone.
Many people need more than the current Recommnded Daily Allowances (RDAs) for optimal health. Here's why: The RDAs for vitamins were developed to keep large populations from getting gross deficiency diseases. RDAs were developed only after large-scale refining of flour became the norm, and deficiency diseases began to affect entire groups of people who no longer ate whole foods. The RDAs do not address individual biological variation. For one person, 80 mg of vitamin C might be optimal; for another, 1,000 mg perday works better. Our nutritional needs are as individual as our fingerprints."
-Christiane Northrup, M.D.

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Latter-Day Ruth

[Update: contact info for the writer/producer of Latter-Day Ruth is in the comments]

We used to go to my Grandparents' house every Sunday after church. We would have a yogurt cup full of popcorn and another yogurt cup of root beer. And we would listen to records of LDS music. I loved all of the music of "Saturday's Warrior," "My Turn On Earth," and some songs from "Latter-Day Ruth." The former two are available on iTunes and have been released on video and DVD, but the latter is nowhere to be found.
I would surely like to hear those songs again. Snippets from them have been surfacing in my memory lately.

"Dream - while there's time for dreaming,
Live - and don't forget it's meaning,
Life - goes on, it's what we're after,
Laugh - and don't forget your brother,
Work - and you'll grow old, God willing,
Now - once more and keep repeating,
The show of life goes on."

Strangely, I've never seen the actual musical, only listened to the record. Anyone out there in the world in possession of it on film and able to resurrect it ?

My sister has memories of an early Mormon made movie of a Dad who was severely overweight and depressed, maybe he lost his job or something, I don't know, but he decides he wants to die, but he can't commit suicide, because then his wife wouldn't get the insurance money, so he decides that he'll cause himself a heart attack by running. So, he goes out running one day and pretty much runs until he thinks he's going to die and passes out. But, he doesn't die, so he tries again the next day and the next. Pretty soon, he realizes that he's starting to feel better and turns his life around and improves his health.
Anyone know what that movie is called?

Saturday, June 5, 2010

"The Coming Aristocracy" by Oliver DeMille

The following quote actually comes from this article, also by Oliver DeMille:
Vampires As Aristocrats?

"There really is a difference between those who deeply know the classics and those who don’t. History is clear on this point. When only a few really know the classics, an aristocracy always dominates the people. This upper class controls, oversees, manipulates and lives off the blood, sweat and labor of the regular people.

When, in contrast, many study and apply the classics, they elect and oversee their leaders and vigilantly replace them when needed — freedom is maintained and flourishes. It is really that simple."

Tuesday, May 11, 2010

The Prussian Connection with Our Modern Schools

Best to have John Taylor Gatto explain it, although he refers to many other sources:

http://www.johntaylorgatto.com/chapters/7d.htm

I especially like footnote #3.

Weapons of Mass Instruction by John Taylor Gatto

"...The modern schools we attend were the result of a 'revolution' engineered between 1905 and 1930." (prologue, p. xviii)


"Between 1896 and 1920, a small group of industrialists and financiers, together with their private charitable foundations, heavily subsidized university chairs, researchers, and school administrators, actually spent more money on forced schooling's early years than did the government. Just two men, Carnegie and Rockefeller, were themselves spending more as late as 1915. In this laissez-faire fashion a system of 'modern schooling was constructed without any public participation, or even much public knowledge. Motives were complex, but it will clear your head wonderfully to listen to what Rockefeller's General Education Board thought the mission should be. Its statement occurs in multiple forms, this one taken from a 1906 document called Occasional Letter Number One:
'In our dreams...people yield themselves with perfect docility to our molding hands. The present educational conventions [of intellectual and moral education] fade from our minds, and unhampered by tradition we work our own good will upon a grateful and responsive folk. We shall not try to make these people or any of their children into philosophers or men of learning or men of science. We have not to raise up from among them authors, educations, poets, or men of letters. We shall not search for embryo great artists, painters, musicians, nor lawyers, doctors, preachers, politicians, statesmen - of whom we have an ample supply. The task we set before ourselves is very simple... we will organize children...and teach them to do in a perfect way the things their fathers and mothers are doing in an imperfect way.

In other words, they didn't want brains or talent, just obedience."


I just keep shaking my head at every paragraph.

It was deliberate to create a school system that would produce workers who would not think too deeply and therefore be easy to manage and who would consume more.


Another quote from the book is of Woodrow Wilson, then president of Princeton University, speaking to an audience of businessmen in New York City in 1909: "We want one class to have a liberal education. We want another class, a very much larger class of necessity, to forgo the privilege of a liberal education and fit themselves to perform specific difficult manual tasks."
Gatto goes on to comment, "Forgoing the privilege of education was not a matter of choice, which probably explains why Wilson's remarks were not broadcast to the common public but were made behind closed doors."

It is just maddening that this system was created by a handful of elite people and then enforced by the government as compulsory. And now three or four generations later people can't imagine an alternative to it! We are scared to jump off the conveyor belt, because that is all we know! We laugh at a liberal arts education because it won't prepare you for a JOB. The joke says,
Q: What does a Liberal Arts graduate say?
(update: I found the joke here)

Of this book, Michael P. Farris, Chairman of the Home School Legal Defense Association, said, "John Taylor Gatto has forcefully presented the case that...a people who believe in freedom will never emerge from a system that starts with coercion."

Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Food revolution continues

We had a birthday without cake! If that isn't a revolution in the food world, then I don't know what is! My oldest turned 16 and she was willing to have a fruit salad instead of a cake. I stuck one candle in a piece of watermelon. I didn't hear any murmuring from her friends about not having cake. Although, I must admit, a week or so after her birthday she said she wished that we had started this healthier way of eating AFTER her birthday.
My 11 year-old son said he wants fruit salad for his birthday, too.

And, my 4 year-old son will now he "eggs with nothing." He used to not eat eggs at all, but now he will eat them as long as I don't add any veggies to them. It's a small victory, but actually huge considering his limited palate. Once he said, "My only flavors are: chips, yogurt, cookies, cheese and milk." Oh, he'll eat bananas now, too, but only half of one, and then another half, and then sometimes another half. If I can promise there are no seeds, then sometimes he'll condescend to eat a few bites of watermelon.
Progress comes slowly.

Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Food for thinking

I wanted to share some lasting truths I've learned. A good bedtime routine with kids starts with a good dinner, preferrably prepared fresh with lots of vegetables that everyone is helping to chop. A good dinner starts with a clean kitchen. Nobody wants to cook or eat in a messy kitchen, but, there's just no avoiding eating if you want to live! And eating vegetables if you want to live long and well.

I just watched the first episode of Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution on hulu.com. It was good! I think I saw him on Oprah or some other talk show years ago, so I'm surprised the people in the show are so resistant to him. But, it's hard to change an institution like a school and it's hard to change lazy eating habits.

The timing is just right, because I'm starting a food revolution in my home, too. One son suffers from chronic constipation, so I took him to a nutritionist to find out why. He asked us what we eat and he told me that my son is 'starving,' nutrionally speaking of course, not in terms of quantity of food. We eat a typical American diet of processed and sugary foods, with fast food at least twice a week.

He suggested I read, "Gut and Psychology Syndrome," by Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride. So, I ordered it and have gotten up to chapter Five. What it comes down to so far is that all diseases start in the gut, and the gut affects the brain. And pretty much anyone who has ever taken anti-biotics will have an unhealthy balance of good and bad bacteria in the intestines, leading to all kinds of problems. Even if you haven't taken antibiotics because of an illness, you're likely getting them from the meat you eat, unless you know it's organic or cage free or whatever. Antibiotics kill good and bad bacteria, but don't affect Candida, but with the good bacteria gone then it flourishes and can grow roots through the wall of the intestine, causing leaky gut, letting toxins or undigested food get into the bloodstream. This is how food allergies or intolerances develop. Doctors used to prescribe a Candida killer after every round of antibiotics, but about 10 years ago they stopped doing that. Candida also thrives on sugar and wheat.
But, if you get the good bacteria back, and get the Candida in check, then food intolerances might go away.
It's very interesting. I think everyone should read it.

So, I'm on board with Jamie. It's time for a food revolution in America.

Monday, March 15, 2010

Funny Big Girl

Not to be outdone by her 13 year-old second cousin that created a Bananagrams grid using the word "antidisestablishmentarianism," my 15 year-old created this grid. (She had to turn a couple of 'u's sideways to have enough 'c's.)

She did have a little pile of leftover letters, so she doesn't get full points for using all her letters. Oh, and as for the crazy background that it is on, she chose that rug, too.

Funny Little Girl

My six year-old posted a clock on the door of her room and said that no one can enter when the long hand is between the two lines on each side of the six.



Her birthday is about half a year away, but she sure talks about it a lot! She decided to make her own birthday card, but on her first attempt the letters wouldn't all fit on the page, so this time, she had me write "Happy Birthday" and then she decorated it.

It's nice to have a kid who knows how to plan ahead!

Thursday, February 4, 2010

The Internet

The internet is very useful for solving those questions that were nearly impossible to answer before we had ready access to unlimited trivia. For example, Chris and I did a fist bump type hand shake and he said, "Sorry the Wonder Twin powers aren't working."
I said, "That's because you have to use your hand with the ring on it."
So, he switched hands and I said, "Form of an eagle."
He said, "Shape of an ice cube."
I said, "It's 'form of.'"
But he was sure one of them said, "Form of..." and the other said, "Shape of..."
I sure thought they both said, "Form of..."
So, he looked it up on YouTube and found a clip and sure enough he was right, though it was the girl that always went first and she said, "Shape of..." since she always got to be some kind of animal and her brother said, "Form of..." since he always had to be some sort of water, which I always thought was a little weak, but they seemed to win their battles anyway.

Too bad the internet doesn't have the answers that we really need.
My sister was looking for ideas for her daughter's birthday and not letting her daughter see, but after she walked away, her daughter googled, "What is my Mom's secret?" Good thing she doesn't know about the History menu, or she might have figured it out.

I can search for houses, but I can't really know what it's like to live in a particular neighborhood by searching the internet.

At least I can check my bank balance and keep in touch with family and friends and friends I haven't met, yet.
So, I would surely miss it, if electricity was not available for a season.
If only it could tell me the end of the road on a particular course of action...
"...'Cuz if you don't like the end of the road, you better back-up, you know you better back-up fast..." (Carol Lynn Pearson, "My Turn On Earth")