When My Mind Is Still

When My Mind is Still

When my mind is still and alone with the beating of my heart,
I remember things too easily forgotten:
The purity of early love,
The maturity of unselfish love that asks --
desires -- nothing but another's good,
The idealism that has persisted through all the tempest of life.

When my mind is still and alone with the beating of my heart,
I can find a quiet assurance, an inner peace, in the core of my being.
It can face the doubt, the loneliness, the anxiety,
Can accept these harsh realities and can even grow
Because of these challenges to my essential being.

When my mind is still and alone with the beating of my heart,
I can sense my basic humanity,
And then I know that all men and women are my brothers and sisters.
Nothing but my own fear and distrust can separate me from the love of friends.
If I can trust others, accept them, enjoy them,
Then my life shall surely be richer and more full.
If I can accept others, this will help them to be more truly themselves,
And they will be more able to accept me.

When my mind is still and alone with the beating of my heart,
I know how much life has given me:
The history of the race, friends and family,
The opportunity to work, the chance to build myself.
Then wells within me the urge to live more abundantly,
With greater trust and joy,
With more profound seriousness and earnest service,
And yet more calmly at the heart of life.

- Paul Beattie was a Unitarian Universalist minister, serving in congregations including in Kansas City, Missouri, and last at the First Unitarian Church of Pittsburgh, PA. He was also president of the Fellowship of Religious Humanists, among his many involvements.

Once we lose hope, then we lose our humanity

Hope is important because it can make the present moment less difficult to bear. If we believe that tomorrow will be better, we can bear a hardship today. - Thich Nhat Hanh

Life is a process...

Life is a process. We are a process. The universe is a process. – Anne Wilson Schaef

Harmony = many

You don't get harmony when everybody sings the same note. - Doug Floyd

one life 

but we're not the same

we get to 

carry each other

carry each other

Do a good deed today... for yourself

He who does a good deed is instantly ennobled. He who does a mean deed is by the action itself contracted. He who puts off impurity thereby puts on purity. If a man is at heart just, then in so far is he God. – Ralph Waldo Emerson

Tuva Farewell
by Paul Pena
Pena: vocals, guitar, dijeridu;
Ondar : vocals, Tuvan banjo

Written upon Paul's return to America from Tuva in 1995.

Here I am on my way now, on my way back home,
On this winged horse I've mounted, on my way alone.
I've been listening to the music of nature
I've been tuned to the wonder of the earth,
I've been listening and I've been relating
Now I feel the reason for our birth.
Everything here sings like a bird on the wing!
Now I get back home and find out they think it's all for show;
Now I get back home and find out they don't know!

Here I am in Tuva, listening to the sound,
Here I sit at the center of Asia, with my ear to the ground.
Lord, its been a long time, since I've felt so free!
Through the hardships and heartaches,
Through the tiredness of body and mind I see
That every heart needs to sing like a bird on the wing!
There's so many things you've got to know how to do
To get along; All I know to do is sing.
My friends they sing with me in some way,
That's the way it seems!

Yrlar sen, Kongar-ol! (Sing it, Kongar-ol!)

Got me a brother in prison, I know nothing about.
All I know is when he sings it's beauty;
His heart and soul come out.
They can't tell me nothing about him,
Don't know [if he's] dead or alive,
But I will sing to my Ezhim (friend) Oidupaa
If I can help him to survive, I don't know.
If I don't, Lord, his memory will remain!
Me and my friends we've heard his voice,
And now we know his name;
Me and my friends, we're gonna play his music to the world
And listen with no shame!

[So] here I am on my way now, on my way back home,
On this winged horse I've mounted, riding on alone.
I will listen to the music of nature
I will listen to the wonder of the earth.
I will listen and keep relating
You would do well to do some work on that, my friend;
If we don't, I know nothing will remain! What a shame!
Me and my friends we will remember all the love we've known.
We will tell everybody: In Tuva we've found another home!

Here I am at the center of Asia.

Tunap bodap borarymga-yo,
Tuva chonum bergenein-e.

Repeat

Every time I think of my people;
I am honored by the Tuvan people.

Eshterim tyvanyng chonum-nu
Eshterim tyvanyng ynak men!

Repeat

My friends, the Tuvan people,
My Tuvan friends, I love you!

Laughing

Remember, men need laughter sometimes more than food.  

- Anna Fellows Johnston

 

Listen

The greatest gift you can give another is the purity of your attention. – Richard Moss

Love. Life. Meaning.

If I can stop one heart from breaking,
I shall not live in vain.
If I can ease one life the aching,
Or cool one pain,
Or help one fainting robin
Unto his nest again,
I shall not live in vain. – Emily Dickinson

<

Well, when you're good at something, stick with it

Ours is a world of nuclear giants and ethical infants. We know more about war than we know about peace, more about killing than we know about living. We have grasped the mystery of the atom and rejected the Sermon on the Mount. – Omar N. Bradley

Do you think there's a heaven?

I always used to think that Heaven is a place for people who spent their whole life doing good, but it isn’t. God is too merciful and kind to make a decision like that. Heaven is simply a place for people who were genuinely unable to be happy on earth. They told me here that people who kill themselves return to live their life all over again, because the fact that they didn’t like it the first time doesn’t mean they won’t fit in the second time. But the ones who really don’t fit in the world wind up here. They each have their own way of getting to Heaven. – Etgar Keret

One

That it will never come again is what makes life so sweet. – Emily Dickinson

The best of Lester, the worst of Lester...

You are the best. You are the worst. You are average. Your love is a part of you. You try to give it away because you cannot bear its radiance, but you cannot separate it from yourself. To understand your fellow humans, you must understand why you give them your love. You must realize that hate is but a crime-ridden subdivision of love. You must reclaim what you never lost. You must take leave of your sanity, and yet be fully responsible for your actions. - Gnarls Barkley, in a letter to the legendary rock critic Lester Bangs

Oh coffee, you're the only one who truly understands me

I believe humans get a lot done, not because we're smart, but because we have thumbs so we can make coffee. - Flash Rosenberg

 

Continue to Play - It could save your humanity

Life is to be lived, not controlled, and humanity is won by continuing to play in face of certain defeat. – Ralph Ellison

Once again... know thyself

The greatest human quest is to know what one must do in order to become a human being.

-Immanuel Kant

Nothing's gonna change my world...

You just need to be a flea against injustice. Enough committed fleas biting strategically can make even the biggest dog uncomfortable and transform even the biggest nation. – Marian Wright Edelman

For every thing...

So convenient a thing is it to be a reasonable creature, since it enables me to find or make a reason for every thing one has a mind to do. – Ben Franklin

Theirs is to win, if it kills them/ they're just humans with wives and children
Race for the Prize - Flaming Lips

Thinking? Who needs that?

The world we have created is a product of our thinking. It cannot be changed without changing our thinking. - Albert Einstein

Share your extraordinary life

When one man, for whatever reason, has the opportunity to lead an extraordinary life, he has no right to keep it to himself. – Jacques-Yves Cousteau

If you have 3 good friends in your lifetime, consider yourself wealthy

Friendship marks a life even more deeply than love. Love risks degenerating into obsession, friendship is never anything but sharing. – Elie Weisel

 
Bill Withers - Lean On Me
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Sometimes in our lives we all have pain
We all have sorrow
But if we are wise
We know that there's always tomorrow

Lean on me, when you're not strong
And I'll be your friend
I'll help you carry on
For it won't be long
'Til I'm gonna need
Somebody to lean on

Please swallow your pride
If I have things you need to borrow
For no one can fill those of your needs
That you WON’T let show

you just call on me brother, when you need a hand
We all need somebody to lean on
I just might have a problem that YOU’LL understand
We all need somebody to lean on

Lean on me, when you're not strong
And I'll be your friend
I'll help you carry on
For ,it won't be long
'Til I'm gonna need
Somebody to lean on


YA just call on me brother, when you need a hand
We all need somebody to lean on
I just might have a problem that YOU’LL understand
We all need somebody to lean on

If there is a load you have to bear
That you can't carry
I'm right up the road
I'll share your load
If you just call me
call me (if you need a friend)
call me (call me)
call me (if you need a friend)
call me (if you ever need a friend)
call me (call me)
call me (call me)
call me (call me)
call me (call me)
call me (if you need A friend)
call me (call me)
call me (call me)
call me (call me)
call me (call me)
call me