I Am...♥ This Is So Beautiful. So Much Wrapped Up God's Name.

Woot! Superman (1978) Starring The Late Great Christopher Reeve Just Started On The Encore Channel!!! I Am One Happy Camper! :D

Woot Woot! The movie gods have answered my prayer. I'm thrilled to be watching the original Superman movie (1978) starring the late great Christopher Reeve. The movie just started at 5:00pm PST on the Encore channel. :) Try as they might, no one can replace Christopher Reeve as Superman. ♥ Watching Superman makes me a big time Happy Camper!!! :D

I took this picture two years ago. This is me at home au naturale. Cheers! :)

How big of a fan am I? Here's a picture of my Superman bowling bag and bowling ball. :)

HAPPY Star Wars Day!!! :)

Party at Jabba's Palace!!! The Max Rebo Band will be performing. Here they are in the video with Sy Snootles rockin the mic to Lapti Nek.

See you there! I'll be the Jedi boogying on the dance floor. lol ;) ♥

Classy Insults

Classy Insults

"He has all the virtues I dislike and none of the vices I admire."
Winston Churchill

"A modest little person, with much to be modest about."
Winston Churchill

"I have never killed a man, but I have read many obituaries with great pleasure."
Clarence Darrow

"He has never been known to use a word that might send a reader to the dictionary."
William Faulkner (about Ernest Hemingway)

"Poor Faulkner. Does he really think big emotions come from big words?"
Ernest Hemingway (about William Faulkner)

"Thank you for sending me a copy of your book; I'll waste no time reading it."
Moses Hadas

"He can compress the most words into the smallest idea of any man I know."
Abraham Lincoln

"I've had a perfectly wonderful evening. But this wasn't it."
Groucho Marx

"I didn't attend the funeral, but I sent a nice letter saying I approved of it."
Mark Twain

"He has no enemies, but is intensely disliked by his friends."
Oscar Wilde

"I am enclosing two tickets to the first night of my new play, bring a friend... if you have one."
George Bernard Shaw to Winston Churchill

"Cannot possibly attend first night, will attend second... if there is one."
Winston Churchill, in response

"I feel so miserable without you, it's almost like having you here."
Stephen Bishop

"He is a self-made man and worships his creator."
John Bright

"I've just learned about his illness. Let's hope it's nothing trivial."
Irvin S. Cobb

"He is not only dull himself, he is the cause of dullness in others."
Samuel Johnson

"He is simply a shiver looking for a spine to run up."
Paul Keating

"He had delusions of adequacy."
Walter Kerr

"There's nothing wrong with you that reincarnation won't cure."
Jack E. Leonard

"He has the attention span of a lightning bolt."
Robert Redford

"They never open their mouths without subtracting from the sum of human knowledge."
Thomas Brackett Reed

"He inherited some good instincts from his Quaker forebears, but by diligent hard work, he overcame them."
James Reston (about Richard Nixon)

"In order to avoid being called a flirt, she always yielded easily."
Charles, Count Talleyrand

"He loves nature in spite of what it did to him."
Forrest Tucker

"Why do you sit there looking like an envelope without any address on it?"
Mark Twain

"His mother should have thrown him away and kept the stork."
Mae West

"Some cause happiness wherever they go; others, whenever they go."
Oscar Wilde

"He uses statistics as a drunken man uses lamp-posts... for support rather than illumination."
Andrew Lang (1844-1912)

"He has Van Gogh's ear for music."
Billy Wilder

*NEW*

"You, Mr. Wilkes, will die either of the pox or on the gallows."
The Earl of Sandwich

"That depends, my lord, on whether I embrace your mistress or your principles."
John Wilkes in response to The Earl of Sandwich

"Forgive me for shaking your hand with my left; I eat with the other one."
Dr. Goodword

"As I walk away, please note the mistletoe on my coattail."
Dr. Goodword

(When the death of Calvin Coolidge was announced) "How would they know?"
Dorothy Parker

"If you want me to read your mind, give me more to work with."
Unknown author

The Philosophy of Words (So to Speak)

The Philosophy of Words (So to Speak)

Authors: Some are from George Carlin and Stephen Wright; others are unknown

Contributors: Wanda Wilson & John Masher

[source: Alpha Dictionary]

◦Why isn't phonetics spelled phonetically?

◦Why are there Braille signs at the drive-through windows at the bank?

◦If a deaf kid swears, does his mom wash his hands with soap?

◦What's another word for synonym?

◦Why do we drive on a parkway but park in a driveway?

◦Isn't it a bit unnerving that doctors call what they do "practice?"

◦Where do forest rangers go to "get away from it all?"

◦Is it possible to be "totally partial?"

◦Would a fly that loses its wings be called a "walk?"

◦If a turtle loses its shell is it naked or homeless?

◦If vegetarians eat vegetables, what do humanitarians eat?

◦If people can have triplets and quadruplets why not singlets and doublets?

◦Is Atheism a non-prophet organization.

◦I went to a bookstore and asked the saleswoman, "Where is the self-help section?" She said that if she told me, it would defeat the purpose.

◦Is it true that cannibals don't eat clowns because they taste funny?

◦Why don't you ever see the headline, "Psychic Wins Lottery"?

◦Why is "abbreviated" such a long word?

◦Why is lemon juice made with artificial flavor and dishwashing liquid made with real lemons?

◦Why is the man who invests all your money called a broker?

◦Why is the time of day with the slowest traffic called rush hour?

◦Why are they called apartments when they are all stuck together?

◦If con is the opposite of pro, is Congress the opposite of progress?

◦If flying is so safe, why is the airport called 'terminal'?

Hostel Movie Trailer (2005)

I'm watching the movie Hostel on the Syfy channel. It just started at 1:00am pst. For those of you who don't know, I am a lover of horror films. I grew up watching horror films and I learned a lot from the mistakes the victims made. In other words, I learned what not to do. It's been a long while since I've seen this one though.

I'm sharing this movie with you because it reveals the sadistic sob's in this world. If I had a kid, I'd make them watch this movie so they could be aware of this twisted percentage of humanity that exists on this planet. I would not want my child to be naive and put in harm's way when leaving the security of our inner circle. This movie shows us a pretty gruesome reality of human behavior all over the world.

You need to know that there are good and bad humans in this world. The good humans value and respect LIFE and FREEDOM. While the bad humans are egomaniacal sadistic sob's. It doesn't help humanity to have egomaniacal sadistic sob leaders who favor the egomaniacal sob percentage of humanity. This is the core of our problem.

I've been reading a lot of social media posts where people hate humans so much they want to annihilate humans or wishing they weren't part of the human race because of the heinous crimes humans commit. That makes absolutely no sense at all. You arrived on this planet as a human being. Therefore, that means, you have a purpose to fulfill as a human being. Find out what that purpose is and make a difference in this world and quit whining about it. I hope you choose to be a force for good.

I'd like to share an exchange I had this past week with a facebook friend after he posted this picture and message:

IF WE CAN'T SAVE THE SERENGETI - WHAT CAN WE SAVE?

Please spread the word!

Please join Serengeti Watch!

Please make a donation if you can - so we can continue our long term plans to save the Serengeti.

George: Abort the human race.

Geri: I know.....ugh

Me (Josette): Are you guys not part of the human race? There are good and bad humans. Why would you want to annihilate all humans because of the bad humans? That makes no sense. There are many humans who love and respect life, nature, all living things. And by you wanting to annihilate ALL humans, that would make you no different than the bad humans you despise so much. Because you will also be murdering innocent kindhearted humans. So basically you would become what you hate by wanting the human race destroyed. Because those you claim to hate steal, kill and destroy.

Geri: no we are just sick of the ugly humans and they out way the good!!!! mother nature will take care of us all. humans are unkind and kill just for the sake of killing so we all may need to go.

Me: You have a suicide mentality because you're extinguishing yourself in that statement. The ugly humans don't outweigh the good. It just feels that way. It would be more accurate if you said "many" humans or a "part of humanity" are unkind and kill for fun. Because you are including yourself and the rest of us who love and respect life in that statement you made. Darkness cannot exist where there is light. The dark forces you speak of are being exposed to be done away with once and for all. But we who are good kindhearted humans need to stay above the fray, and focus our heart center on that which disturbs us in this world to transform it.

George: well said Josette.

Critical Thinking Is Self-Guided, Self-Disciplined Thinking

Critical Thinking Is Self-Guided, Self-Disciplined Thinking

written Linda Elder, September 2007

[source: The Critical Thinking Community]

Critical thinking is self-guided, self-disciplined thinking which attempts to reason at the highest level of quality in a fair-minded way. People who think critically consistently attempt to live rationally, reasonably, empathically. They are keenly aware of the inherently flawed nature of human thinking when left unchecked. They strive to diminish the power of their egocentric and sociocentric tendencies. They use the intellectual tools that critical thinking offers – concepts and principles that enable them to analyze, assess, and improve thinking. They work diligently to develop the intellectual virtues of intellectual integrity, intellectual humility, intellectual civility, intellectual empathy, intellectual sense of justice and confidence in reason.

They realize that no matter how skilled they are as thinkers, they can always improve their reasoning abilities and they will always at times fall prey to mistakes in reasoning, human irrationality, prejudices, biases, distortions, uncritically accepted social rules and taboos, self-interest, and vested interest. They strive to improve the world in whatever ways they can and contribute to a more rational, civilized society. At the same time, they recognize the complexities often inherent in doing so.

They strive never to think simplistically about complicated issues and always consider the rights and needs of relevant others. They recognize the complexities in developing as thinkers, and commit themselves to life-long practice toward self-improvement. They embody the Socratic principle: The unexamined life is not worth living, because they realize that many unexamined lives together result in an uncritical, unjust, dangerous world.

Concept and Definition of Critical Thinking

Our Concept and Definition of Critical Thinking

[source: The Critical Thinking Community]

Why Critical Thinking?

The Problem

Everyone thinks. It is our nature to do so. But much of our thinking, left to itself, is biased, distorted, partial, uninformed, or downright prejudiced. Yet, the quality of our life and that of what we produce, make, or build depends precisely on the quality of our thought. Shoddy thinking is costly, both in money and in quality of life. Excellence in thought, however, must be systematically cultivated.

A Definition

Critical thinking is that mode of thinking — about any subject, content, or problem — in which the thinker improves the quality of his or her thinking by skillfully analyzing, assessing, and reconstructing it. Critical thinking is self-directed, self-disciplined, self-monitored, and self-corrective thinking. It presupposes assent to rigorous standards of excellence and mindful command of their use. It entails effective communication and problem-solving abilities, as well as a commitment to overcome our native egocentrism and sociocentrism.

To Analyze Thinking

Identify its purpose, and question at issue, as well as its information, inferences(s), assumptions, implications, main concept(s), and point of view.

To Assess Thinking

Check it for clarity, accuracy, precision, relevance, depth, breadth, significance, logic, and fairness.

The Result

A well-cultivated critical thinker:

• Raises vital questions and problems, formulating them clearly and precisely
• Gathers and assesses relevant information, using abstract ideas to interpret it effectively
• Comes to well-reasoned conclusions and solutions, testing them against relevant criteria and standards
• Thinks openmindedly within alternative systems of thought, recognizing and assessing, as needs be, their assumptions, implications, and practical consequences
• Communicates effectively with others in figuring out solutions to complex problems

The Etymology & Dictionary Definition of "Critical Thinking"

The concept of critical thinking we adhere to reflects a concept embedded not only in a core body of research over the last 30 to 50 years but also derived from roots in ancient Greek. The word ’’critical’’ derives etymologically from two Greek roots: "kriticos" (meaning discerning judgment) and "kriterion" (meaning standards). Etymologically, then, the word implies the development of "discerning judgment based on standards."

In Webster’s New World Dictionary, the relevant entry reads "characterized by careful analysis and judgment" and is followed by the gloss, "critical — in its strictest sense — implies an attempt at objective judgment so as to determine both merits and faults." Applied to thinking, then, we might provisionally define critical thinking as thinking that explicitly aims at well-founded judgment and hence utilizes appropriate evaluative standards in the attempt to determine the true worth, merit, or value of something.

The tradition of research into critical thinking reflects the common perception that human thinking left to itself often gravitates toward prejudice, over-generalization, common fallacies, self-deception, rigidity, and narrowness.

The critical thinking tradition seeks ways of understanding the mind and then training the intellect so that such "errors", "blunders", and "distortions" of thought are minimized. It assumes that the capacity of humans for good reasoning can be nurtured and developed by an educational process aimed directly at that end.

The history of critical thinking documents the development of this insight in a variety of subject matter domains and in a variety of social situations. Each major dimension of critical thinking has been carved out in intellectual debate and dispute through 2400 years of intellectual history.

That history allows us to distinguish two contradictory intellectual tendencies: a tendency on the part of the large majority to uncritically accept whatever was presently believed as more or less eternal truth and a conflicting tendency on the part of a small minority — those who thought critically — to systematically question what was commonly accepted and seek, as a result, to establish sounder, more reflective criteria and standards for judging what it does and does not make sense to accept as true.

Our basic concept of critical thinking is, at root, simple. We could define it as the art of taking charge of your own mind. Its value is also at root simple: if we can take charge of our own minds, we can take charge of our lives; we can improve them, bringing them under our self command and direction. Of course, this requires that we learn self-discipline and the art of self-examination. This involves becoming interested in how our minds work, how we can monitor, fine tune, and modify their operations for the better. It involves getting into the habit of reflectively examining our impulsive and accustomed ways of thinking and acting in every dimension of our lives.

All that we do, we do on the basis of some motivations or reasons. But we rarely examine our motivations to see if they make sense. We rarely scrutinize our reasons critically to see if they are rationally justified. As consumers we sometimes buy things impulsively and uncritically, without stopping to determine whether we really need what we are inclined to buy or whether we can afford it or whether it’s good for our health or whether the price is competitive. As parents we often respond to our children impulsively and uncritically, without stopping to determine whether our actions are consistent with how we want to act as parents or whether we are contributing to their self esteem or whether we are discouraging them from thinking or from taking responsibility for their own behavior.

As citizens, too often we vote impulsively and uncritically, without taking the time to familiarize ourselves with the relevant issues and positions, without thinking about the long-run implications of what is being proposed, without paying attention to how politicians manipulate us by flattery or vague and empty promises. As friends, too often we become the victims of our own infantile needs, "getting involved" with people who bring out the worst in us or who stimulate us to act in ways that we have been trying to change. As husbands or wives, too often we think only of our own desires and points of view, uncritically ignoring the needs and perspectives of our mates, assuming that what we want and what we think is clearly justified and true, and that when they disagree with us they are being unreasonable and unfair.

As patients, too often we allow ourselves to become passive and uncritical in our health care, not establishing good habits of eating and exercise, not questioning what our doctor says, not designing or following good plans for our own wellness. As teachers, too often we allow ourselves to uncritically teach as we have been taught, giving assignments that students can mindlessly do, inadvertently discouraging their initiative and independence, missing opportunities to cultivate their self-discipline and thoughtfulness.

It is quite possible and, unfortunately, quite "natural" to live an unexamined life; to live in a more or less automated, uncritical way. It is possible to live, in other words, without really taking charge of the persons we are becoming; without developing or acting upon the skills and insights we are capable of. However, if we allow ourselves to become unreflective persons — or rather, to the extent that we do — we are likely to do injury to ourselves and others, and to miss many opportunities to make our own lives, and the lives of others, fuller, happier, and more productive.

On this view, as you can see, critical thinking is an eminently practical goal and value. It is focused on an ancient Greek ideal of "living an examined life". It is based on the skills, the insights, and the values essential to that end. It is a way of going about living and learning that empowers us and our students in quite practical ways. When taken seriously, it can transform every dimension of school life: how we formulate and promulgate rules; how we relate to our students; how we encourage them to relate to each other; how we cultivate their reading, writing, speaking, and listening; what we model for them in and outside the classroom, and how we do each of these things.

Of course, we are likely to make critical thinking a basic value in school only insofar as we make it a basic value in our own lives. Therefore, to become adept at teaching so as to foster critical thinking, we must become committed to thinking critically and reflectively about our own lives and the lives of those around us. We must become active, daily, practitioners of critical thought. We must regularly model for our students what it is to reflectively examine, critically assess, and effectively improve the way we live.

Critical thinking is that mode of thinking — about any subject, content, or problem — in which the thinker improves the quality of his or her thinking by skillfully analyzing, assessing, and reconstructing it. Critical thinking is self-directed, self-disciplined, self-monitored, and self-corrective thinking. It presupposes assent to rigorous standards of excellence and mindful command of their use. It entails effective communication and problem-solving abilities, as well as a commitment to overcome our native egocentrism and sociocentrism.

More Zen Humor To Help Lighten The Mood! ;)

God's Favorite Music Is LAUGHTER!

Q: What do you call a schizophrenic Buddhist?

A: Someone who is at two with the universe.

*********************************************************

A Buddhist nun, an atheist and a Catholic Priest are on the Titanic when the ship hits an iceberg. So they all run out on deck to get into a lifeboat.

"Women and children first!" yells the Buddhist.

"Screw the women and children!" yells the atheist.

The Catholic Priest yells, "Do you think we really have that much time?".

*********************************************************

So the Zen master steps up to the hot dog cart and says: "Make me one with everything."

The hot dog vendor fixes a hot dog and hands it to the Zen master, who pays with a $20 bill.

The hot dog vendor puts the bill in the cash drawer and closes the drawer.

"Where's my change?" asks the Zen master.

The hot dog vendor responds: "Change must come from within."

**********************************************************

Q: What is the name of the best Zen teacher?

A: M.T. Ness

**********************************************************

Disciple: Oh wise and all knowing one, show me the place of perfect peace. Master: If I show it to you it will no longer be peaceful.

**********************************************************

Q. Have you heard of the cow who attained liberation?

A. It was dyslexic and kept on repeating OOOOMMM !

**********************************************************

A new monk arrives at the monastery. He is assigned to help the other monks in copying the old texts by hand. He notices, however, that they are copying copies, not the original books. So, the new monk goes to the head monk to ask him about this. He points out that if there were an error in the first copy, that error would be continued in all of the other copies.

The head monk says "We have been copying from the copies for centuries, but you make a good point, my son." So, he goes down into the cellar with one of the copies to check it against the original.

Hours later, nobody has seen him. So, one of the monks goes downstairs to look for him. He hears a sobbing coming from the back of the cellar, and finds the old monk leaning over one of the original books and crying. He asks what's wrong. "The word is 'celebrate'," says the old monk.

******************************************************

Q. What happens when a Buddhist becomes totally absorbed with the computer he is working with?
A. He enters Nerdvana.

******************************************************

Three monks decided to practise meditation together. they sat by the side of a lake and closed their eyes in concentration. Then suddenly, the first one stood up and said, "I forgot my mat." He steeped miraculously onto the water in front of him and walked across the lake to their hut on the other side.

When he returned, the second monk stood up and said, "I forgot to put my other underwear to dry." He too walked calmly across the water and returned the same way. The third monk watched the first two carefully in what he decided must be the test of his own abilities. "Is your learning so superior to mine? I too can match any feat you two can perform," he declared loudly and rushed to the water's edge to walk across it. He promptly fell into the deep water.

Undeterred, the wet monk climbed out of the water and tried again, only to sink into the water. Yet again he climbed out and yet again he tried, each time sinking into the water. This went on for some time as the other two monks watched.

After a while, the second monk turned to the first and said, "Do you think we should tell him where the stones are?"

Philosophical Humor: Why Did The Chicken Cross The Road? LOL! :) Thank God We're Not Clones. This Shows Us 'Individual' Perspectives On Life. ♥

Independent, Objective, Critical THINKERS of the World UNITE!

Why Did The Chicken Cross The Road?

[source: Space and Motion]

Plato: For the greater good.

Machiavelli: So that its subjects will view it with admiration, as a chicken which has the daring and courage to boldly cross the road, but also with fear, for whom among them has the strength to contend with such a paragon of avian virtue? In such a manner is the princely chicken's dominion maintained.

Jacques Derrida: Any number of contending discourses may be discovered within the act of the chicken crossing the road, and each interpretation is equally valid as the authorial intent can never be discerned, because structuralism is DEAD, DAMMIT, DEAD!

Timothy Leary: Because that's the only kind of trip the Establishment would let it take.

Douglas Adams: Forty-two.

Nietzsche: Because if you gaze too long across the Road, the Road gazes also across you.

Oliver North: National Security was at stake.

B.F. Skinner: Because the external influences which had pervaded its sensorium from birth had caused it to develop in such a fashion that it would tend to cross roads, even while believing these actions to be of its own free will.

Carl Jung: The confluence of events in the cultural gestalt necessitated that individual chickens cross roads at this historical juncture, and therefore synchronicitously brought such occurrences into being.

Jean-Paul Sartre: In order to act in good faith and be true to itself, the chicken found it necessary to cross the road.

Ludwig Wittgenstein: The possibility of "crossing" was encoded into the objects "chicken" and "road", and circumstances came into being which caused the actualization of this potential occurrence.

Albert Einstein: Whether the chicken crossed the road or the road crossed the chicken depends upon your frame of reference.

Aristotle: To actualize its potential.

Buddha: If you ask this question, you deny your own chicken- nature.

Salvador Dali: The Fish.

Darwin: It was the logical next step after coming down from the trees.

Emily Dickinson: Because it could not stop for death.

Epicurus: For fun.

Ralph Waldo Emerson: It didn't cross the road; it transcended it.

Johann von Goethe: The eternal hen-principle made it do it.

Ernest Hemingway: To die. In the rain.

Werner Heisenberg: We are not sure which side of the road the chicken was on, but it was moving very fast.

David Hume: Out of custom and habit.

Jack Nicholson: 'Cause it (censored) wanted to. That's the (censored) reason.

Pyrrho the Skeptic: What road?

Henry David Thoreau: To live deliberately ... and suck all the marrow out of life.

Mark Twain: The news of its crossing has been greatly exaggerated.

Zeno of Elea: To prove it could never reach the other side.

Wordsworth: To wander lonely as a cloud.

Blake: To see heaven in a wild fowl.

Dr Johnson: Sir, had you known the Chicken for as long as I have, you would not so readily enquire, but feel rather the Need to resist such a public Display of your own lamentable and incorrigible Ignorance.

Oscar Wilde: Why, indeed? One's social engagements whilst in town ought never expose one to such barbarous inconvenience - although, perhaps, if one must cross a road, one may do far worse than to cross it as the chicken in question.

Kafka: Hardly the most urgent enquiry to make of a low-grade insurance clerk who woke up that morning as a hen.

Swift: It is, of course, inevitable that such a loathsome, filth-ridden and degraded creature as Man should assume to question the actions of one in all respects his superior.

Macbeth: To have turned back were as tedious as to go o'er.

Freud: An die andere Seite zu kommen. (Much laughter)

Hamlet: That is not the question.

Donne: It crosseth for thee.

Freedom is Responsibility by Osho ♥

Freedom is Responsibility

[source: Osho International]

Everybody wants freedom as far as talking is concerned, but nobody really is free and nobody really wants to be free, because freedom brings responsibility. It does not come alone. And to be dependent is simple: the responsibility is not on you, the responsibility is on the person you are dependent on.

So people have made a schizophrenic way of life. They talk about truth, they talk about freedom, and they live in lies, they live in slaveries – slaveries of many kinds, because each slavery frees you from some responsibility. A man who really wants to be FREE has to accept immense responsibilities. He cannot dump his responsibilities on anybody else. Whatever he does, whatever he is, he is responsible.

Responsibility and freedom go together. If you don't want to take responsibility, you can't have freedom either. The two come together or they go together. If you shun responsibility, you have to accept slavery in some way or other.

Now, you had dreamed about freedom without ever thinking that great responsibility will follow. Freedom you have, but you have not fulfilled the responsibility. Hence, sadness lingers around you. You are absolutely capable of removing this sadness. If you were capable of destroying your slavery, your chains, you are certainly capable of being creative.

Freedom means you will have to be responsible for every act, for every breath; whatever you do or don't do, you will be responsible.

People are really in deep fear of freedom, although they talk about freedom. But my own experience is: very few people really want freedom ; because they are subconsciously aware that freedom will bring many problems that they are not ready to face. It is better to remain in cozy imprisonment. It is warmer, and what will you do with freedom? Unless you are ready to be a seeker, a searcher, a creator... Very few people want to go on a pilgrimage or to go into deeper silences of the heart, or to take the responsibility of love. The implications are great.

You will have to dispel that darkness, otherwise sooner or later you will enter into a prison. You cannot go on burdening yourself with sadness. Before the burden becomes too much and forces you back into slavery, into imprisonment, change the whole situation by being a creative person. Just find out what is your joy in life, what you would like to create, what you would like to be, what you want to be your definition.

Freedom is simply an opportunity to find a definition for yourself, a true, authentic individuality, and a joy in making the world around you a little better, a little more beautiful – a few more roses, a little more greenery and a few more oases.

Madame Blavatsky, founder of the Theosophical Society, used to carry two bags in her hands, always. Either going for a morning walk or travelling in a train – those two bags were always in her hands. And she was throwing something out of those bags – from the window while sitting in the train – onto the side of the train.

People would ask, "Why do you do this?"

She would say, "This has been my whole life's habit. These are seasonal flower seeds. I may not come back on this route again, but that does not matter. When the season comes and the flowers will blossom, thousands of people who pass every day in this line of railway trains will see those flowers, those colours. They will not know me. That does not matter.

"One thing is certain: I am making a few people happy somewhere. That much I know. It does not matter whether they know it or not. What matters is that i have been doing something which will make somebody happy. Some children may come and pluck a few flowers and go home. Some lovers may come and make garlands for each other. And without their knowing, I will be part of their love. And I will be part of the joy of children. And I will be part of those who will be simply passing by the path, seeing the beautiful flowers." (Satchitanand, 14)

Let Your Life Become A Celebration!!!

Let Your Life Become A Celebration

[source: Osho International]

Life has the potential to become a song of bliss, but there is every possibility of missing it too. It is not a certainty, there is no inevitability about it. It depends: you can make it, you can destroy it. Out of one hundred, ninety-nine point nine percent of people destroy their song of bliss. Then their life is nothing but a cry, a scream of pain and agony. But they have chosen it that way; nobody else is ever responsible.

This is the first truth to be learned in life: that you are always responsible, nobody else. With that comes great FREEDOM, because with that all alternatives are open. If you think that somebody else is responsible then you are a slave; then nothing is open. Then you have to be what you are. If your life is a tragedy then it has to be a tragedy, because others are responsible; unless they change, nothing can be done about it. You don’t have any freedom.

And that is the reason why millions of people live in misery: they think others are creating their misery. Nobody is creating your misery, nobody can create it; and nobody can create your bliss either. It is a totally individual phenomenon. It is just your work upon yourself. And the most strange thing is: to create misery is difficult and to create bliss is easy, but people always choose the difficult thing, because the difficult thing always gives them an ego-trip.

The ego is not interested in easy things; the ego is interested only in difficult things. The more impossible a thing looks, the more attractive it feels for the ego, because the ego feels a challenge, and only through challenge can it conquer, can it prove to the world ’I am somebody special.’

Misery gives you challenge: bliss is very simple. Trees are blissful, birds are blissful. It needs no special talent to be blissful. To be miserable needs talents, one has to be really very very clever to be miserable. Bliss is innocent; you can be blissful without any education, but you cannot be miserable without any education, remember! It is very difficult. You need degrees, universities, mm? then only do you become skilful.

So the first TRUTH has to sink deep in the heart: "I am always responsible for whatsoever I am. Bliss or misery, this is my choice. If I have chosen to be miserable, then there is no need to be sad about it; this is my choice and I am doing my thing." Feel happy that you have succeeded in being miserable! If this is not your choice, drop it immediately, drop all those patterns that create it and start creating new patterns, new doors from where bliss starts flowing.

For example, the person who wants to be miserable has to think in terms of fighting with life; that is his gestalt. He is always fighting. The person who wants to be blissful has to be a non-fighter, surrendered to life, in a kind of let-go. The person who wants to be miserable has to create great ideals, has to make impossible demands upon himself. Then only can you be miserable; otherwise you will not be miserable. You have to be this, you have to be that, and when you cannot be, frustration settles in. The man who wants to be blissful has no ideals at all, he is a non-idealist; he is a REALIST. The miserable person is always an idealist. The happy person, the blissful person, is a REALIST: he lives moment to moment with no ideals. You cannot frustrate him because he has no expectations.

The miserable person always condemns himself because he is not rising high enough to fulfil the demands. He is a constant condemnor; he lives in self-condemnation.

The blissful person is very accepting of himself. He makes no demands. He is relaxed, at ease with himself; he loves himself as he is. So you have to watch: that which creates misery, drop; and that which brings bliss like a flood, create that space in you. And my whole effort here is to make each of my sannyasins a song of bliss: not miserable saints, not long faces, but celebrants! I am interested in celebrants, not in saints at all.

So let your life become a celebration; and it is up to you!

HAPPY SATURDAY Everybody! Hakuna Matata! I Hope This Lifts Your Spirit For The Weekend! It Means "NO WORRIES" lol Enjoy! ;) Have A Cheerful Weekend! SMILE... It Looks Good On You! ((( ♥ )))

Hakuna Matata

by Timon and Pumba

from The Lion King Movie

Hakuna Matata!

What a wonderful phrase

Hakuna Matata!

Ain't no passing craze

It means no worries

For the rest of your days

It's our problem-free philosophy

Hakuna Matata!

Hakuna Matata!

Hakuna Matata?

Yeah. It's our motto!

What's a motto?

Nothin'! What's-a-motto with you?!

Those two words will solve all your problems.

That's right. Take Pumbaa here

Why...when he was a young warthog

When I was a young warthog

Very nice

Thanks.

He found his aroma lacked a certain appeal

He could clear the savannah after ev'ry meal

I'm a sensitive soul though I seem thick-skinned

And it hurt that my friends never stood downwind

And, oh, the shame

Oh, the shame!

Thought of changin' my name

What's in a name?

And I got downhearted

How did ya feel?

Ev'rytime that I...

Hey, Pumbaa! Not in front of the kids!

Oh, sorry.

Hakuna Matata!

What a wonderful phrase

Hakuna Matata!

Ain't no passing craze

It means no worries for the rest of your days

It's our problem-free philosophy

Hakuna Matata!

Hakuna Matata! Hakuna Matata!

Hakuna Matata! Hakuna Matata!

Hakuna Matata! Hakuna Matata!

Hakuna Matata! Hakuna --

It means no worries for the rest of your days

It's our problem-free philosophy

Hakuna Matata!

I say "Hakuna"

I say "Matata"

Snoopy and Woodstock Having Lighthearted FUN! :)

I ♥ Snoopy! :)

Here's one for the road. Snoopy and Woodstock having a good time making music together, dancing and laughing. I hope you are having a great night doing the same. Try to take a break from this world's nonsense. It's good for your health. Believe me, all of the world's nonsense will continue to go on with and without your attention. So with that said, don't lose any sleep over it. Have a little fun doing whatever it is that puts a great big smile on your face and song in your heart. It doesn't have to be anything extravagant. You may feel that reading a book is fun or listening to your favorite music or watching your favorite movie, tv show, sports game or playing video games or you may enjoy gardening, even cleaning your house helps too. Once you have become relaxed, centered and have all of your batteries recharged, then you can catch up with this world's nonsense. I'm sending you lot's of love and I'm giving you a great BIG HUG! :) ♥

"To succeed in life, you need three things:

a wishbone, a backbone and a funnybone."

~ by Reba McEntire

Big (1988) Movie Trailer

YAAAY!!! I'm so excited. After much searching, over 500 channels, pay per view movie selection and premium on-demand channels I FINALLY came across something I'm actually interested in watching, the movie "BIG" directed by Penny Marshall. It just started right now at 11:50 pm on Cinemax. I never get tired of watching this FUN lighthearted movie!

I am one HAPPY camper right now. Okay time to go relax and enjoy this timeless classic! Catch you all later. I hope you're all having a great night too! This is just what the doctor (my spiritual guardian) ordered, lighthearted FUN and LAUGHTER! :D

Life Is Like A Cup of Coffee... ♥

HAPPY FRIDAY everybody!!! :) I hope this beautiful message lifts your spirit today! LOVE YOU! ♥

"We are here to add what we can to life,

not to get what we can from life."

~ by William Osler

I have typed a transcript of this message below for my international readers who need to translate.

*************************

A group of alumni, highly established in their careers, got together to visit their old university professor. Conversation soon turned into complaints about stress in work and life. Offering his guests coffee, the professor went to the kitchen and returned with a large pot of coffee and an assortment of cups porcelain, plastic, glass, crystal, some plain looking, some expensive, some exquisite. He told his guests to help themselves to the coffee. After everybody had a cup of coffee in hand, the professor said:

If you noticed all the nice looking expensive cups have been taken up, leaving behind the plain and cheap ones. While it is normal for you to want only the best for yourselves, that is the source of your problems and stress. Be assured that the cup adds no quality to the coffee. In most cases it is just more expensive, and in some cases even hides what we drink. What all of you really wanted was coffee, not the cup. But you consciously went for the best cups... And then you began eyeing each other's cups to see who had the best one. Now consider this... LIFE is the coffee; the jobs, the money, the positions in society are the cups. They are just tools to hold and contain LIFE and the type of cup we have does not define, nor change, the quality of life we live. Sometimes, by concentrating only on the cup, we fail to enjoy the coffee. Savor the coffee, NOT the cups! The happiest people don't have the best of everything. They just make the BEST of everything.

♥ Live simply ♥ Speak kindly ♥ Care deeply ♥
♥ Love generously ♥

HAPPY FRIDAY Everybody!!! :)

The Six Pillars of Character

The Six Pillars of Character

[source: Character Counts]

The CHARACTER COUNTS! approach to character education doesn't exclude anyone. That's why we base our programs and materials on six ethical values that everyone can agree on — values that are not political, religious, or culturally biased. Use the points below to help young people understand the Six Pillars, and use the mnemonic devices at right to help them remember.

For a more detailed discussion of the Six Pillars, consult our book, Making Ethical Decisions, reprinted in part HERE. <== FREE online outline.

Trustworthiness

Be honest • Don’t deceive, cheat, or steal • Be reliable — do what you say you’ll do • Have the courage to do the right thing • Build a good reputation • Be loyal — stand by your family, friends, and country

Respect

Treat others with respect; follow the Golden Rule • Be tolerant and accepting of differences • Use good manners, not bad language • Be considerate of the feelings of others • Don’t threaten, hit or hurt anyone • Deal peacefully with anger, insults, and disagreements

Responsibility

Do what you are supposed to do • Plan ahead • Persevere: keep on trying! • Always do your best • Use self-control • Be self-disciplined • Think before you act — consider the consequences • Be accountable for your words, actions, and attitudes • Set a good example for others

Fairness

Play by the rules • Take turns and share • Be open-minded; listen to others • Don’t take advantage of others • Don’t blame others carelessly • Treat all people fairly

Caring

Be kind • Be compassionate and show you care • Express gratitude • Forgive others • Help people in need

Citizenship

Do your share to make your school and community better • Cooperate • Get involved in community affairs • Stay informed; vote • Be a good neighbor • Obey laws and rules • Respect authority • Protect the environment • Volunteer

Character, Integrity and Leadership

I am compelled to touch on these specific qualities we all must strive to achieve. I have these three quotes framed and hanging on my wall. I purchased them from Successories decades ago.

The Essense of Character:

Your TRUE character is revealed by the clarity of your convictions, the choices you make, and the promises you keep. Hold strongly to your principles and refuse to follow the currents of convenience. What you say and do defines who you are, and who you are... YOU are forever!

The Courage of Integrity:

The highest courage is to dare to be yourself in the face of adversity. Choosing right over wrong, ethics over convenience, and truth over popularity... these are the choices that measure your life. Travel the path of integrity without looking back, for there is never a wrong time to do the right thing.

The Essense of Leadership:

A true leader has the confidence to stand alone, the courage to make tough decisions, and the compassion to listen to the needs of others. He does not set out to be a leader, but becomes one by the quality of his actions and the integrity of his intent.

[This is the quote I live by.]
"In the end, leaders are much like eagles...

they don't flock,

you find them one at a time."
~ Unknown author

USA: FLASHBACK Obama DOJ To Federal Judge: Let’s Keep This James Rosen Warrant Between Us, OK?

Canada Free Press

Obama DOJ to federal judge: Let’s keep this James Rosen warrant between us, OK?

written by Dan Calabrese

Wednesday May 29, 2013

The entire pretext by which the Obama Justice Department justified spying on James Rosen was flimsy enough. They trumped up the notion that they might charge him as a criminal co-conspirator to justify the warrant that allowed them to read his e-mails and access his phone records. This was always absurd, based on ridiculous notions about how Rosen approached his reporting work.

But it was worse than that. Not only did they want the warrant, they wanted it kept quiet because they figured they might want to just go ahead and monitor Rosen’s e-mails for an extended period of time. The New Yorker, of all media outlets, reports:

E-mails, Machen wrote, “are commonly used by subjects or targets of the criminal investigation at issue, and the e-mail evidence derived from those compelled disclosures frequently forms the core of the Government’s evidence supporting criminal charges.”

He argued that disclosure of the search warrant would preclude the government from monitoring the account, should such a step become necessary in the investigation. Machen added that “some investigations are continued for many years because, while the evidence is not yet sufficient to bring charges, it is sufficient to have identified criminal subjects and/or criminal activity serious enough to justify continuation of the investigation.”

Machen insisted the investigation would be compromised if Rosen was informed of the warrant, and also asked the court to order Google not to notify Rosen that the company had handed over Rosen’s e-mails to the government. Rosen, according to recent reports, did not learn that the government seized his e-mail records until it was reported in the Washington Post last week.

The new details indicate that the government wanted the option to search Rosen’s e-mails repeatedly if the F.B.I. found further evidence implicating the reporter in what prosecutors argued was a conspiracy to commit espionage.

Clearly this was a fishing expedition through which the Obama Administration sought the widest possible access to Rosen’s private communication, not so much because they knew what they were looking for, but because they wanted to see what they might find. The Wall Street Journal explains what poor understanding of the craft of journalism this was all based on:

The official also cites as evidence of Mr. Rosen’s criminality that he “used false names and ‘dead drop’ email accounts” with Mr. Kim. Had he merely sat passively and received the leak, that would have been fine. But because he coaxed and wheedled and flattered his source, he was “a reporter soliciting, and aiding and abetting criminal activity.”

The dangerous ignorance here about journalism and the First Amendment is astounding. The implication is that if reporters sit at their desks and wait for the mail to deliver secrets, that’s fine. But that almost never happens. In the real world, reporters coax and wheedle and flatter. They even use “false names” the way Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward worked “Deep Throat” to expose the Watergate scandal.

In any event, the Justice Department affidavit that requested the email search warrant offers no evidence that Mr. Rosen solicited lawbreaking. It does offer evidence that he solicited Mr. Kim as a source and asked him to provide documents. But it is not Mr. Rosen’s job as a reporter to determine the information a source might hand over, and what may or may not be classified.

The larger danger is that this anonymous official is suggesting that government can define what are legal reporting practices. How much active reporting qualifies as illegal solicitation? Is it one phone call and lunch, or five calls, three emails and a fancy dinner?

The day that prosecutors and FBI agents get to define what is illegal reporting is the day the First Amendment dies. Putting so much discretion in the hands of government officials means that the reporters who are most likely to be accused of illegally soliciting leaks will be those who are most critical of Administration policies. There’s a word for this that liberals used to like: Nixonian.

Absolutely. If the Obama DOJ really thinks these kinds of practices are unusual - let alone criminal - they know so little about how journalism works it’s nothing short of astonishing. But even more dangerous, they seem to think it’s up to them to define what the limits of the First Amendment are, and who is entitled to its protections. Certainly not a meddlesome reporter from Fox News, at least not if they can justify an extended look at his e-mails with no one knowing about it.

I don’t think people realize just how troubling this is.