The Cracked Pot

An elderly Chinese woman had two large pots, each hung on the ends of a pole, which she carried across her neck. One of the pots had a crack in it while the other pot was perfect and always delivered a full portion of water, at the end of the long walk from the stream to the house, the cracked pot arrived only half full.

For a full two years this went on daily, with the woman bringing home only one and a half pots of water. Of course, the perfect pot was proud of its accomplishments. But the poor cracked pot was ashamed of its own imperfection, and miserable that it could only do half of what it had been made to do.

After 2 years of what it perceived to be bitter failure, it spoke to the woman one day by the stream. "I am ashamed of myself, because this crack in my side causes water to leak out all the way back to your house."

The old woman smiled, "Did you notice that there are flowers on your side of the path, but not on the other pot's side? That's because I have always known about your flaw, so I planted flower seeds on your side of the path, and every day while we walk back, you water them. For two years I have been able to pick these beautiful flowers to decorate the table. Without you being just the way you are, there would not be this beauty to grace the house."


This is to remind us that each of us has our own unique flaw. But it's the cracks and flaws we each have that make our lives together so very interesting and rewarding. You've just got to take each person for what they are and look for the good in them.

"Far better it is to dare mighty things?than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy nor suffer much, because they live in a gray twilight that knows neither victory nor defeat." ~ T. Roosevelt

When facing a single tree, if you look at a single one of its red leaves, you will not see all the others. When the eye is not set on one leaf, and you face the tree with nothing at all in mind, any number of leaves are visible to the eye without limit. But if a single leaf holds the eye, it will be as if the remaining leaves were not there.

~ Takuan Soto

She did not consciously think, "Ah, today I learned this and that; I gained this much." You do not do it step by step that way, by adding on coatings of varnish, or new paint. When learning becomes you, then it appears as you need it, when you are being you. Sometimes true learning surprises you when it emerges.

~ Chungliang Al Huang

If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. And who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart?

~ Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

In the history of Chinese civilisation, no significant scientific advances came as a result of Confucian studies. They were scholastics, and a scholastic in those times was one who went by the book, who believed what the ancient text or the ancient scriptures said, and who studied them and became proficient in them like a rabbi or a Christian theologian.

But mystics have never been very interested in theology. Mystics are interested in direct experience, and therefore - although you may laugh at them and say they are not scientific - they are empirical in their approach. And the taoists, being mystics, were the only great group of ancient Chinese people who seriously studied nature. They were interested in its principles from the beginning, and their books are full of analogies between the taoist way of life and the behaviour of natural forces seen in water, wind, or plants and rocks.

~ Alan Watts (http://www.alanwatts.com)

You have said it, but you have not understood. ~ Jesus

Which is it, is man one of God’s blunders or is God one of man’s? ~ Friedrich Nietzsche

If God has made us in his image, we have returned him the favor. ~ Voltaire

Nothing happens unless first we dream. ~ Carl Sandburg

A person will worship something, have no doubt about that. We may think our tribute is paid in secret in the dark recesses of our hearts, but it will out. That which dominates our imaginations and our thoughts will determine our lives, and our character. Therefore, it behooves us to be careful what we worship, for what we are worshipping we are becoming. ~ Emerson

The bottom line is that (a) people are never perfect, but love can be, (b) that is the one and only way that the mediocre and vile can be transformed, and © doing that makes it that. We waste time looking for the perfect lover, instead of creating the perfect love. ~ Tom Robbins

I shall tell you a great secret my friend. Do not wait for the last judgement, it takes place every day. ~ Albert Camus

The love that once was born can not die
For it has become part of us, of our life,
Woven into the very texture of our being.
Each of us would wish to leave some part of ourselves,
So here and now we bear witness to the one we knew in life,
Who now in death bequeaths a subtle part, precious and beloved,
Which will be with us in truth and beauty,
In dignity and courage and love
To the end of our days.

~ Algernon Black

My life closed twice before its close;
It yet remains to see
If Immortality unveil
A third event to me,
So huge, so hopeless to conceive,
As these that twice befell.
Parting is all we know of heaven,
And all we need of hell.

~ Emily Dickinson

The poem is a little myth of man's capacity of making life meaningful. And in the end, the poem is not a thing we see --i t is, rather, a light by which we may see -- and what we see is life. ~ Robert Penn Warren

What is a friend?

A single soul dwelling in two bodies.
~ Aristotle ~



Laundry is the only thing that should be separated by color.

THE SECRETS TO HAPPINESS...

Live beneath your means and within your seams.

Return everything you borrow.

Donate blood.

Stop blaming other people.

Admit it when you make a mistake.

Give all the clothes you haven't worn in the last three years to charity.

Every day do something nice and try not to get caught.

Listen more; talk less.

Every day take a 30-minute walk in your neighborhood.

Skip two meals a week and give the money to the homeless.

Strive for excellence, not perfection.

Be on time.

Don't make excuses.

Don't argue.

Get organized.

Be kind to kind people.

Be even kinder to unkind people.

Let someone cut ahead of you in line.

Take time to be alone.

Reread a favorite book.

Cultivate good manners.

Be humble.

Understand and accept that life isn't always fair.

Know when to say something.

Know when to keep your mouth shut.

Don't criticize anyone for 24 hours.

Learn from the past, plan for the future, and live in the present.

Don't sweat the small stuff.


We should strive for happiness – but we also need to WORK ON IT.
HAVE A GREAT WEEK AHEAD

SELAMAT HARI RAYA AIDILFITRI TO ALL MUSLIM FORUMERS
and Happy Holidays to the rest.

FORGIVENESS



Are Your Potatoes Heavy?

A teacher once told each of her students to bring a clear plastic bag and a sack of potatoes to school. For every person they refuse to forgive in their life's experience, they chose a potato, wrote on it the name and date, and put it in the plastic bag. Some of their bags were quite heavy.

They were then told to carry this bag with them everywhere for one week, putting it beside their bed at night, on the car seat when driving, next to their desk at work.

The hassle of lugging this around with them made it clear what a weight they were carrying spiritually, and how they had to pay attention to it all the time to not forget and keep leaving it in embarrassing places. Naturally, the condition of the potatoes deteriorated to a nasty smelly slime. This was a great metaphor for the price we pay for keeping our pain and heavy negativity!

Too often we think of forgiveness as a gift to the other person, and it clearly is for ourselves!