“Until he extends the circle of his compassion to all living things, man will not himself find peace.” — Albert Schweitzer, Kulturphilosophie (1923)
Thought for Today
Pack Your Lunch Day
Copyright 2014 by R.A. Robbins
This is Pack Your Lunch Day! In case you need encouragement here are 5 Reasons to Pack Your Own Lunch:
1. Save Money Eating out is expensive. Keep track of how much you spend on lunch for a week. You may be shocked.
2. Eat healthier Restaurant food is often loaded with fat, sugar and salt. By packing your own lunch with fresh, whole foods and homemade items, you know exactly what goes into it.
3. Save time and stress Do you find yourself driving to a restaurant, waiting for your food, gulping it down and then rushing back to work hoping your won’t be late? Take your own food and enjoy a leisurely lunch with time left over to relax or take a short walk.
4. Cut down on food waste. Leftovers from last nights dinner make a good lunch.
5. Be kind to the environment. A reusable lunch box and food containers helps keep fast food cartons, napkins, cups as well as plastic bags out of the landfill.
Thought for Today
“Peace will come wherever it is sincerely invited.” — Alice Walker [From Living by the word: selected writings, 1973-1987, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 192, (1989). ]
Thought for Today
“For me to be a saint means to be myself. Therefore, the problem of sanctity and salvation is in fact the problem of finding out who I am and of discovering my true self. — Thomas Merton [Source: The Thomas Merton Center at Bellarmine University.]
The Single Biggest Health Threat Women Face
Please take 16 minutes to watch this TED Talk by C. Noel Bairey Merz, director of the Women’s Heart Center at the Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute. This is information we all, women and men alike, need to know and take to heart.
Thought for Today
Vulnerability—being imperfect—is what makes us human, authentic, and lovable. — Joan Borysenko, Ph.D. [From The Blessings of Imperfection Magazine May, 2004]
Brave at U of M Amplatz Children’s Hospital
Have a hanky or a big box of tissues ready before you start this video. You will need them.
Thought for Today
“Peace is a daily, a weekly, a monthly process, gradually changing opinions, slowly eroding old barriers, quietly building new structures. And however undramatic the pursuit of peace, that pursuit must go on. ” — John F. Kennedy [Source: Address to the United Nations General Assembly, 1963]
Follower of the Month for March: Don Scrooby
Our follower of the month for February is Don Scrooby. Don Blogs at Candid Impressions. Take a minute to stop by and say hello.
A Woman and a Woolly Necked Stork
She was a wonderful woman, full of compassion and a good friend. One morning she stepped out of her kitchen and there standing in the doorway of her lounge, was a Woolly Necked Stork. She thought she was dreaming, but the Stork was as real as the porridge she had just made for herself.
Why had the Stork come? Was it a sign? Was it an omen of some sort? Was something good or bad about to happen? Merle (not her real name) being a practical woman, knew it was none of these. The bird had arrived because it was hungry. The drought was taking its toll. Birds do strange things in times of drought. Merle turned and went back in to the kitchen and came out with a piece of cheese. Giving its wings a shake the stork stepped forward and pecked the cheese from her hand. An unforgettable moment for Merle.
And so started a year- long relationship with at least two visits a week. Then, as sudden as the Woolly Neck arrived, she stopped coming and never returned. Something of Merle departed as well.
Eventually Merle went and lived in England. It was hard for her to leave. Just before leaving she composed a poem about her visiting stork. I was deeply touched by a haunting and beautiful last line, “Will the Woolly Necked Stork remember me.” Merle died in December last year.
I often think of those two, Merle and the Woolly Neck. I wonder if those moments of meeting are inscribed on some universal and invisible hard drive just waiting to be experienced again. I can’t believe that moments like those are ever lost.
About Don: “I’m a fellow observer and struggler through life, an avid reader and always seeking to discern the underlying beauty and naturalness in all of life. I also enjoy photography and the mixing of images with words.” Stop by and visit Don at: http://candidpresence.wordpress.com/
Thought for Today
“My aspiration does not consist so much in defending my truth but rather to live it out”. —Raimon Panikkar
espirational.com 