"I'm for the whole bird"

George Curry:

If Rick Warren and his critics met away from the glare of the media, I suspect that they, too, would find they share many beliefs in common, despite their differences.

In an interview with ABC News, Warren said, "I'm a pastor, not a politician. People say, 'Rick, are you right-wing or left-wing?' I say, 'I'm for the whole bird.' "

Beyond the Spin: Obama is right on Warren
People need to throw out litmus tests. Associating only with those who agree with you deprives you of an opportunity for growth.
By George Curry
Posted on Thu, Dec. 25, 2008
http://www.philly.com/inquirer
/opinion/36720549.html

You are absolutely unique

"Always remember that you are absolutely unique. Just like everyone else."

~ Margaret Mead

Myth: Family Gatherings are Torture

Debunking 5 Holiday Myths
http://www.oprah.com/slideshow/spirit/emotionalhealth/
slideshow1_ss_omag_200511_hol
(underlining added)

MYTH 1: FAMILY GATHERINGS ARE TORTURE.
Home for the holidays. The very image can cause us to develop excruciating holiday back spasms, sometimes as early as September—because the cliché of familial holiday bliss has an evil twin: that of the dysfunctional family at its worst. For the legion of CDFs (Children of Dysfunctional Families), don't assume that you can't enjoy family gatherings. With the right mental set, you can have a good, relaxing time at whatever festivities you attend, no matter how wacko your kinfolk may be.

The single best way to cope with familial turmoil is to give up the hope that your relatives will suddenly become cornucopias of emotional health. Instead of yearning for a perfect family, listen to teacher Byron Katie, author of the book I Need Your Love—Is That True? "If I had a prayer," she writes, "it would be this: 'God spare me from the desire for love, approval, and appreciation. Amen.'" This sounds harsh if you've never experienced freedom from these desires, which comes when you accept yourself.

Try one of Katie's exercises: Imagine drinking a cup of tea with a family member, without attempting in any way to get love, approval, or appreciation. You'll suddenly feel safer, more resilient, more at peace. Paradoxically, you get this blessed feeling by not grasping for it. Make Katie's exercise a reality by considering your family holiday a BYOLAA event—bring your own love, approval, and appreciation. The philosopher Lao-tzu said that when you do this, "you naturally become tolerant, disinterested, amused, kindhearted as a grandmother."

It's far easier to let go of judgment or competitiveness and reach this contented place when you aren't intent on forcing people to be what they're not. And you invite inner peace when you stop trying to force yourself either to change your relatives or to think of them as sane. By acknowledging your own infinite value, you'll see more value in others—just as they are. You may even stumble across a surprising holiday gift: the understanding that truly "going home" happens within you, the moment you give yourself the unconditional acceptance you thought you needed from your kin.

— Martha Beck

Voices from God

In George Bernard Shaw’s play "St. Joan," Joan hears voices from God. The Dauphin is annoyed.
"Oh, your voices, your voices," he says, "Why don't your voices come to me? I am the king not you."
"They do come," Joan replies, "but you do not hear them. You have not sat in the field in the evening listening for them. When the angelus rings you cross yourself and have done with it, but if you prayed from your heart and listened to the thrilling of the bells in the air after they stopped ringing, you would hear the voices as well as I do."

"Like having your dog die every day"

"There's a feeling in your stomach when you're laying off people that have worked for you for 30 years," said [Bruce] Weed, during a two-hour interview earlier this week that brought the 51-year-old Washington Crossing resident to tears. "It's awful."

Said Scott Weed, another of the owners: "It's like having your dog die every day."

"Bucks car dealer closes in on painful choice"
(article about Weed Chevrolet's financial problems)
By Diane Mastrull
Inquirer Staff Writer
Philadelphia Inquirer, philly.com
Posted on Wed, Dec. 10, 2008
http://www.philly.com/inquirer/local/20081210_Agonies_trickle_down.html

Jesus, please help

When Satan is knocking at your door, simply say, "Jesus, could You please get that for me?"

~ author unknown

I might be wrong ...

"I would never die for my beliefs because I might be wrong."

~ Bertrand Russell

You will not be alone

Krishnamurti was once asked what was the most appropriate way to say goodbye to a man who was about to die. He answered: "Tell your friend that in his death, a part of you dies and goes with him. Wherever he goes, you also go. He will not be alone."

~ Krishnamurti, a spiritual leader in India who died in 1986

God and Crap

"Don’t bail. The best of the gold’s at the bottom of barrels of crap."

~ Randy Pausch, The Last Lecture