Daily to read once

Written By Regina Brett, 90 years old, of The Plain Dealer, Cleveland, Ohio."To celebrate growing older, I once wrote the 45 lessons life taughtme. It is the most-requested column I've ever written.My odometer rolled over to 90 in August, so here is the column once more:1. Life isn't fair, but it's still good.2. When in doubt, just take the next small step.3. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone.4. Your job won't take care of you when you are sick. Your friends andparents will. Stay in touch.5. Pay off your credit cards every month.6. You don't have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.7. Cry with someone. It's more healing than crying alone.8. It's OK to get angry with God. He can take it.9. Save for retirement starting with your first pay check.10. When it comes to chocolate, resistance is futile.11. Make peace with your past so it won't screw up the present.12. It's OK to let your children see you cry.13. Don't compare your life to others. You have no idea what theirjourney is all about.14. If a relationship has to be a secret, you shouldn't be in it.15. Everything can change in the blink of an eye. But don't worry; Godnever blinks.16. Take a deep breath. It calms the mind.17. Get rid of anything that isn't useful, beautiful or joyful.18. Whatever doesn't kill you really does make you stronger.19. It's never too late to have a happy childhood. But the second oneis up to you and no one else.20. When it comes to going after what you love in life, don't take nofor an answer.21. Burn the candles, use the nice sheets, wear the fancy lingerie.Don't save it for a special occasion. Today is special.22. Over prepare, then go with the flow.23. Be eccentric now. Don't wait for old age to wear purple.24. The most important sex organ is the brain.25. No one is in charge of your happiness but you.26. Frame every so-called disaster with these words: 'In five years,will this matter?'27. Always choose life.28. Forgive everyone everything.29. What other people think of you is none of your business.30. Time heals almost everything. Give time time.31. However good or bad a situation is, it will change.32. Don't take yourself so seriously. No one else does.33. Believe in miracles.34. God loves you because of who God is, not because of anything youdid or didn't do.35. Don't audit life. Show up and make the most of it now.36. Growing old beats the alternative -- dying young.37. Your children get only one childhood.38. All that truly matters in the end is that you loved.39. Get outside every day. Miracles are waiting everywhere.40. If we all threw our problems in a pile and saw everyone else's,we'd grab ours back.41. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.42. The best is yet to come.43. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up. 44. Yield. 45. Life isn't tied with a bow, but it's still a gift."Its estimated 93% won't forward this. If you are one of the 7% who will, forward this with the title '7%'. I'm in the 7%. Remember that I will always share my spoon with you! Friends are the family that we choose for ourselves.

Thoughts by Swami Chinmayananda

No achievement is impossible for man, if he knows how to act in the discipline of co-operation
The source of all bliss is the dedicated performance of duty
Love is the heart of all religions… love is to human hearts what the sun is to the flowers
The impossible is achieved through the process of self-perfection called meditation
Grief is the state of mind created by the absence of objects of one’s liking
The tragedy of human history is decreasing happiness in the midst of increasing comforts
Be openly happy in the joy of others; be sincerely sympathetic in others sorrows
We may often give without love; but we can never love without giving
Never brood over things which have happened or worry over things yet to happen. Live in the present
The world, even if you hold on to it will slip and God, even you want to leave Him, will not abandon you
Tragedies come from the world. Don’t worry about them. He gives; He takes away. Don’t lose your faith in Him
Learn to be happy alone, if we do not enjoy our own company, why inflict it on others!
A successful man is one who can lay a firm foundation with the bricks that others throw at him
In life, one gets what one deserves and not what one desires and He knows what one deserves
Where ego asserts, Lord vanishes. When ego vanishes, Lord enters
Plan out your work, and work out your plans
Do not imagine your sincerity in work, but work sincerely with your imagination
Give! The greatest joy in life is in giving, in loving and in sacrificing
Living the right values of life is like building a dam across a river
You can cheat others but never your conscience, your God!
Man is essentially the thoughts that he entertains

Why go to the Temple ???

If you're spiritually alive, you're going to love this! If you're spiritually dead, you won't want to read it. If you're spiritually curious, there is still hope!

A 'devotee' wrote a letter to the editor of an Indian newspaper and complained that it made no sense to go to the Temple . 'I've gone for 30 years now, he wrote, and in that time I have heard something like 3,000 mantras.
But for the life of me, I can't remember a single one of them. So, I think I'm wasting my time and the Gurus are wasting theirs by giving services at all. This started a real controversy in the 'Letters to the Editor' column, much to the delight of the editor. It went on for weeks until someone wrote this clincher: I've been married for 30 years now. In that time my wife has cooked some 32,000 meals. But, for the life of me, I cannot recall the entire menu for a single one of those meals. But I do know this... They all nourished me and gave me the strength I needed to do my work.If my wife had not given me these meals, I would be physically dead today. Likewise, if I had not gone to the Temple for nourishment, I would be spiritually dead today! When you are DOWN to nothing.... God is UP to something! Faith sees the invisible, believes the incredible and receives the impossible!

GENIUS - Albert Einstein

One day during a speaking tour, Albert Einstein's driver, who often sat at the back of the hall during his lectures, remarked that he could probably give the lecture himself, having heard it so many times. Sure enough, at the next stop on the tour, Einstein and the driver switched places, with Einstein sitting at the back in his driver's uniform.
Having delivered a flawless lecture, the driver was asked a difficult question by a member of the audience. "Well, the answer to that question is quite simple," he casually replied. "I bet my driver, sitting up at the back there, could answer it..."
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Albert Einstein's wife often suggested that he dress more professionally when he headed off to work. "Why should I?" he would invariably argue. "Everyone knows me there." When the time came for Einstein to attend his first major conference, she begged him to dress up a bit. "Why should I?" said Einstein. "No one knows me there!"
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Albert Einstein was often asked to explain the general theory of relativity. "Put your hand on a hot stove for a minute, and it seems like an hour," he once declared. "Sit with a pretty girl for an hour, and it seems like a minute. That's relativity!"
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When Albert Einstein was working in Princeton university, one day he was going back home he forgot his home address. The driver of the cab did not recognise him. Einstein asked the driver if he knows Einstein's home. The driver said "Who does not know Einstein's address? Everyone in Princeton knows.Do you want to meet him?”. Einstein replied "I am Einstein. I forgot my home address, can you take me there? "The driver reached him to his home and did not even collect his fare from him .


Einstein was once traveling from Princeton on a train when the conductor came down the aisle, punching the tickets of every passenger. When he came to Einstein, Einstein reached in his vest pocket. He couldn't find his ticket, so he reached in his trouser pockets. It wasn't there, so he looked in his briefcase but couldn't find it. Then he looked in the seat beside him. He still couldn't find it. The conductor said, 'Dr. Einstein, I know who you are. We all know who you are. I'm sure you bought a ticket. Don't worry about it.' Einstein nodded appreciatively. The conductor continued down the aisle punching tickets. As he was ready to move to the next car, he turned around and saw the great physicist down on his hands and knees looking under his seat for his ticket. The conductor rushed back and said, 'Dr. Einstein, Dr. Einstein, don't worry, I know who you are. No problem. You don't need a ticket. I'm sure you bought one.' Einstein looked at him and said, 'Young man, I too, know who I am. What I don't know is where I'm going.''

"Follow your **Heart**, it knows the way."** *

BE PATIENT

This is a true story which happened in the States. A man came out of his home to admire his new truck. To his puzzlement, his three-year-old son was happily hammering dents into the shiny paint of the truck. The man ran to his son, knocked him away, hammered the little boy's hands into pulp as punishment. When the father calmed down, he rushed his son to the hospital. Although the doctor tried desperately to save the crushed bones, he finally had to amputate the fingers from both the boy's hands. When the boy woke up from the surgery & saw his bandaged stubs, he innocently said, "Daddy, I'm sorry about your truck." Then he asked, "but when are my fingers going to grow back?" The father went home & committed suicide. Think about this story the next time someone steps on your feet or u wish to take revenge. Think first before u lose your patience with someone u love. Trucks can be repaired.. Broken bones & hurt feelings often can't. Too often we fail to recognize the difference between the person and the performance. We forget that forgiveness is greater than revenge. ** People make mistakes. We are allowed to make mistakes. But the actions we take while in a rage will haunt us forever. *

PERSONAL PERCEPTION

Different people have different perception. One man's meat could be another man's poison. A couple bought a donkey from the market. On the way home, a boy commented, "Very stupid. Why neither of them ride on the donkey? "Upon hearing that, the husband let the wife ride on the donkey. He walked besides them. Later, an old man saw it and commented, "The husband is the head of family. How can the wife ride on the donkey while the husband is on foot?" Hearing this, the wife quickly got down and let the husband ride on the donkey. Further on the way home, they met an old Lady. She commented, "How can the man ride on the donkey but let the wife walk. He is no gentleman." The husband thus quickly asked the wife to join him on the donkey. Then, they met a young man. He commented, "Poor donkey, how can you hold up the weight of two persons. They are cruel to you." Hearing that, the husband and wife immediately climbed down from the donkey and carried it on their shoulders. It seems to be the only choice left. Later, on a nar row bridge, the donkey was frightened and struggled. They lost their balance and fell into the river. You can never have everyone praise you, nor will everyone condemn you. Never in the past, not at present, and never will be in the future. ** Thus, do not be too bothered by others words if our conscience is clear.. **