Optimism

Who cares if it's half full or half empty?
You have a glass and there's something in it!
Forgive those who have hurt you, betrayed you, or broken your heart;
for they have helped you learn about trust.
Forgive yourself the missteps and poor decisions you might have made;
for they have helped you become wiser.
Forgive the opportunities that you think have eluded you;
for they were merely preparing you for something better.
Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement and happiness.

Journey

Life.
It is a journey.
No one is ahead of you or behind you.
You are not more "advanced" or less enlightened.
You are not more special or less worthy.
You are exactly where you need to be.
It is NOT a contest.
It's Life.
We are ALL teachers
and we are ALL students.

Aim

Whether out of fear of failure or just plain fear . . .


"The greater danger for most of us lies not in setting our aim too high and falling short;
but in setting our aim too low, and achieving our mark."
~ Michaelangelo Bueonarroti


Dream big.
Anyone can take that first step;
but to keep walking . . . to take that leap . . . to travel beyond your efforts . . .
THAT is when the difference is made.

Power

Today, tomorrow and always . . .
remember this:


The task ahead of you,
is never as great
as the power within you.

Keep Calm

There's nothing else.
No witty conclusions.
No snide comments.
No distasteful quotes.
No distracting rhymes or alumni banter or drinking dialogue or silliness.


Just Keep Calm.

Not always as it seems . . .

Sometimes, when your world seems shattered, unfixable, hopelessly mangled and you are hurting . . .
remember this:


"What the caterpillar calls the end of the world,
the Master calls a butterfly."
~ Richard Bach

The Awful "E"

The Awful "E"

To be human is a wonderful thing.

We seek love, companionship, comfort, acceptance and compatibility.
We eagerly gravitate toward siblings, search for a partner, are consumed by children and live to share.
It is not until you allow yourself to be chosen by a furry addition ~ a pet ~ that your life takes on a whole new meaning.


It is an unconditional acceptance.
It is a whiskered face plopped on your knee, hanging on your every word, so intent on pleasing you and giving a paw to prod you, a lick when you're lacking, a nudge when you need it. And . . . in return . . . just feed him, pet him, walk him, and come home to him.  Whether you leave to get the mail, or spend a week on vacation, that you've come back to him is all he wants, all he lives for. He exists to improve your life, to give you love, to help you move from day to day.
It is a thrumming purr to soothe your frazzled nerves. A sweet nuzzle to avert your attention from a bad day. A reminder that someone needs you that helps you move beyond your own troubles and into that world of loving another creature with reckless abandon.

And then . . .

The Awful "E"!
When you being human means you have to be humanE!

When you have to voluntarily remove all those joyful things from your own life.

When you have to let all those things you fell in love with, leave.
But you know . . . with every tear . . . that that "E" is also about all the things they have given you that you now have the chance to give back as they cross that Rainbow Bridge.

Envelopment

Encouragement
Ease
Ebullience
Elation
Essence
Emancipation
Excess
Embraces
Enthusiasm
Emotion
Enhancement
Expression
Exemption
Enormity
Enjoyment
Entirety
Excellence
Extraordinariness
Enrichment
and
Everlasting Eternal Euphoric Existence.


Thanks Maximus Mako Marinello - for choosing us as part of your family. We are better for it.