Monthly Archives: December 2017

Something Wonderful

Barter by Sara Teasdale Life has loveliness to sell, All beautiful and splendid things, Blue waves whitened on a cliff, Soaring fire that sways and sings And children’s faces looking up Holding wonder like a cup. Life has loveliness to … Continue reading

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Every Day

“Every day is another opportunity to start again and to be better.”                                   Misty Copeland, author and principal ballerina If anyone knows about the grit and determination it takes to succeed, it’s Misty Copeland (see Misty Motivates). She’s achieved the height … Continue reading

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Pushing Against

“We are at our most innovative when we have something to push against. Creativity does not require perfect conditions. In fact, it thrives on imperfect ones. The block of marble from which Michelangelo carved his masterpiece, the David, had been … Continue reading

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Opportunity Calls

When Nathaniel Hawthorne was a young man just starting his career, he was fired from his government job at the local custom house. He returned home in despair. His wife listened sympathetically to his tale of looming tragedy, then lit … Continue reading

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Something Wonderful

Little Tree Little silent Christmas tree You are so little You are more like a flower Who found you in the green forest And were you very sorry to come away? See I will comfort you. Because you smell so … Continue reading

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Simplicity Soars

“Simplicity is the final achievement. After one has played a vast quantity of notes and more notes, it is simplicity that emerges as the crowning reward of art.”   Frederic Chopin As soon as I read this, I knew I … Continue reading

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Practice Pays

Pablo Casals is a wonder: a joyful musician and a wise soul (see Marvelous You) — and here’s a story worth sharing about him: The famous cellist was to be interviewed in his studio by a young reporter. Pablo kept … Continue reading

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Darling Dorothy

“Be bigger than your fears.” Dorothy Today  — December 20 — is her birthday; she passed away of pancreatic cancer in 2004. Since then, my beautiful sister Stephanie and I came up with the idea of getting together to celebrate … Continue reading

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Marvelous You

“Each second we live is a new and unique moment of the universe, a moment that will never be again And what do we teach our children? We teach them that two and two make four, and that Paris is … Continue reading

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True Happiness

“Storybook happiness involves every form of pleasant thumb-twiddling; true happiness involves the full use of one’s powers and talents.”    John  W. Gardner “Storybook happiness” — it’s so seductive, isn’t it? The pleasures of “pleasant thumb-twiddling” are all around us: The … Continue reading

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