Silly puny humans...

When you love someone, all your saved-up wishes start coming out. - Elizabeth Bowen

Of course it's hard - you don't have me around...

To fall in love is easy, even to remain in it is not difficult; our human loneliness is cause enough. But it is a hard quest worth making to find a comrade through whose steady presence one becomes steadily the person one desires to be. - Anna Louise Strong

Love is... - by keoni

Love is gentle.

Love is strong.

Love knows what is right and wrong.

Love is patient, holding on.

Love is telling me it wont be long.

Love can see me when I hide,

Love is waiting by your side.

Love is slowly moving in,

feeding my soul, the adult within.

Love is a circle above our head,

Love surrounds us, colourful green, blue, yellow, red.

Love will honour, cherish, and adore.

Love is knocking at your door.

Love is all of me, no less but more.

Love will heal us for evermore.

Love is blissful, consuming,

Love is everything we see.

Love is God sent, for you and me...

Patient, conflicted and slowly succumbing... - SB

Aged IQ

A wealthy old lady went on an African safari, and took faithful, aged poodle, named Cuddles, along for the company. The poodle starts chasing butterflies and before long, Cuddles discovers that he's lost. Wandering about, he notices a leopard heading rapidly in his direction with the intention of having lunch...

The old poodle thinks, "Oh, oh! I'm in deep doo-doo now!" Noticing some bones on the ground close by, he immediately settles down to chew on the bones with his back to the approaching cat. Just as the leopard is about to leap the old poodle exclaims loudly, "Boy, that was one delicious leopard! I wonder if there are any more around here."

 Hearing this, the young leopard halts his attack in mid-strike, a look of terror comes over him and he slinks away into the trees. "Whew!” says the leopard, "That was close! That old poodle nearly had me!"

Meanwhile, a baboon who had been watching the whole scene from a nearby tree, figures he can put this knowledge to good use and trade it for protection from the leopard. So off he goes, but the old poodle sees him heading after the leopard with great speed, and figures that something must be up. The baboon soon catches up with the leopard, spills the beans and strikes a deal for himself with the leopard.

The young leopard is furious at being made a fool of and says, "Here, baboon, hop on my back and see what's going to happen to that conniving canine!

Now, the old poodle sees the leopard coming with the baboon on his back and thinks, "What am I going to do now?", but instead of running, the dog sits down with his back to his attackers, pretending he hasn't seen them yet, and just when they get close enough to hear, the old poodle says: "Where's that damn baboon? I sent him off an hour ago to bring me another leopard!

Moral of this story...

Don't mess with old farts...experience and wile will always overcome youth and muscle; polished bullshit and brilliance only come with age and experience...

Rehearsing a hurt prolongs it. Release it to Jesus instead.

Ark of Triumph!

Noah's Ark - replicated to scale by using archaeological pieces found on Mt Ararat, believed to be remnants from the original ark...

Are we not all members of the same Body and partakers of the same Spirit and heirs of the same blessed hope of eternal life? . . . Why do we not, as becomes brethren, dwell together in unity, but are so apt to quarrel and break out into heats, to crumble into sects and parties, todivide and separate from one another upon every trifling occasion? Give me leave . . . in the name of our dear Lord . . . to recommend to you this new commandment of His, that ye love one another. Which is almost a new commandment still, and hardly the worse for wearing, so seldom is it put on, and so little hath it been practiced among Believers. - John Tillotson

SECRET LOVERS

SECRET LOVERS LYRICS - ATLANTIC STARR

Here we are, the two of us together

Taking this crazy chance to be all alone

We both know, that we should not be together

'Cause if they find out, it could mess up

Both our happy homes

I hate to think about us only not together

As soon as I look at you, it will show on my face

Then they'll know, that we've been loving each other

We can't let'em know, no, no, no

We can't leave a trace

Sitting at home, I do nothing all day

But think about you and hope that you're okay

Hoping you call, before anyone gets home

I wait anxiously, alone by the phone

How could something so wrong be so right?

Wish we didn't have to keep our love out of sight

Living two lives, just ain't easy at all

But we gotta hang, on in there or fall

Secret lovers, that's what we are

Trying so hard to hide the way we feel

'Cause we both belong to someone else

But we can't let go, 'cause what we feel is oh, so real

So real, so real

You and me, are we friends?

Is this cool, or do we care ?

Can they tell, what's in our minds?

Maybe we'll be secret lovers all of the time

In the middle of making love, we notice the time

We both get nervous, 'cause it's way after nine

Even though we hate it, we know it's time that we go

We gotta be careful, so that no one will know

Secret lovers, that's what we are

We shouldn't be together

But we can't let go, 'cause what we feel is oh, so real

So real, so real, so real, so real...

Find someone who isn't afraid to admit that they miss you.Someone who knows that you're not perfect, but treats you as if you are. Someone whose biggest fear is losing you. One who gives their heart completely. Someone who says I love you and means it. Last but not least, find someone you wouldn't mind waking up with you in the morning, seeing your wrinkles and your grey hair but still falls in love with you all over again... Luv ya Babykin - Always

DOGGEDNESS - a warrior's virtue (repost)

I sat down to write this commentary, prompted by a carcass of a dead dog, lying by the side of the road...

On returning from a walk this morning, I happened upon the form of a huge Alsatian dog, lying at the foot of the railway bridge I had crossed earlier. The dog must have just been knocked over by a speeding motorist, (I had not seen the body on my outward passing) because it was still quite warm (I sort of checked; its eyes were open and glazed over; and I presumed that it was just exhausted) but the blood trickling from its mouth was the give away. The beautiful, wretched creature was dead. Its handsome thick coat of fur (typical of the breed), glistening in the struggling, morning sun. But he was gone from this world.

I lamented the poor beast's passing with a quick prayer, and wished its life force a good journey, to wherever it is that animal souls go.

What struck me was the irreverent apathy everyone else showed toward the situation. A large dog lying dead along a public walkway is unusual, isn't it? Yet no one else even seemed to acknowledge its presence. It was there as large as life, but recognition of its physical being was only a show of indifference.

It is the same with many of us. We are magnificent creations of God, going about our business of life; yet unseen (and sometimes even happy for that). The troubles of our personal world make us oblivious to our real essence; we start to marginalise our purposes and accept our duty as the core of our being. We begin to just exist, not to live!

Pursue your dreams with dogged determination...

Change the course of your life today. You are worth it. You are loved...

~ SB

Words of Wisdom

If at first you don't succeed, destroy all evidence that you tried.

A conclusion is the place where you got tired of thinking.

Experience is something you don't get until just after you need it.

For every action, there is an equal and opposite criticism.

He who hesitates is probably right.

Never do card tricks for the group you play poker with.

No one is listening until you make a mistake.

Success always occurs in private, and failure in full view.

The hardness of the butter is proportional to the softness of the bread.

The severity of the itch is proportional to the reach.

To steal ideas from one person is plagiarism; to steal from many is research.

To succeed in politics, it is often necessary to rise above your principles.

Two wrongs are only the beginning.

You never really learn to swear until you learn to drive.

The problem with the gene pool is that there is no lifeguard.

Monday is an awful way to spend 1/7th of your life.

The sooner you fall behind, the more time you'll have to catch up.

A clear conscience is usually the sign of a bad memory.

If you must choose between two evils, pick the one you've never tried before.

Change is inevitable....except from vending machines.

Plan to be spontaneous tomorrow.

Always try to be modest. And be damn proud of it!

If you think nobody cares about you, try missing a couple of payments.

How many of you believe in telekinesis?  Raise my hands....

I'd kill for a Nobel Peace Prize.

Everybody repeat after me...."We are all individuals."

Death to all fanatics!

Chastity is curable, if detected early.

Don't be sexist; broads hate that!

Bills travel through the mail at twice the speed of cheques.

Hard work pays off in the future.  Laziness pays off now.

Eagles may soar, but weasels aren't sucked into jet engines.

Borrow money from pessimists....they don't expect it back.

Beware of geeks bearing gifs.

Half the people you know are below average.

99 percent of lawyers give the rest a bad name.

42.7 percent of all statistics are made up on the spot.

A conscience is what hurts when all your other parts feel so good.

Courage to Trust

An atmosphere of trust is as necessary as air or water to human life. We cannot be ourselves unless we can trust the people around us; how imprisoned we are behind our masks when we dare not disclose ourselves to others! And being on guard all the time paralyses our psychic energy. Moreover, it takes trust to love and be loved. “Love is an act of faith, and whoever is of little faith is also of little love.” - Erich Fromm

On the other hand, in the presence of those who believe in us, we feel safe and free. A noted psychologist put it this way: “We are not only our brother’s keeper; in countless large and small ways we are our brother’s maker.” By our trust or distrust we shape him. Trust is the willingness to gamble on the basic fact of good intentions.

All fine human relationships depend on trust. The teacher’s battle is almost won the day she is able to persuade the delinquent child to believe that she intends him no harm. Why do human beings find it so difficult to trust each other? The main reason is that we are afraid. Watch two reserved people sitting side by side on a plane or a train, each fearing to speak. We are afraid, of being disparaged, rejected, and unmasked.

Memories also often make us defensive. A businessman I know, for example, has few friends. His mother died when he was seven, and the well-meaning aunt who took him home with her told him that his mother had “gone away on a visit.” He waited vainly for weeks for his mother to return.As a result of this well-intentioned betrayal, he grew up unable to trust anyone again.

To increase our capacity to trust one another, we firstly need faith in ourselves. “There’s nothing I’m afraid of like scared people,” wrote Robert Frost. And, in fact, he who feels inferior and inadequate cannot trust others. But to believe in our own worth does not mean that we should see nothing wrong with ourselves. What we must trust about ourselves is simply what we must trust about others - which we, too, are seriously trying to do what is right, however faultily!

Secondly, trust requires realism. “It’s risky to trust people,” an acquaintance of mine said bitterly. “You can be horribly deceived.” He was right, if to trust people means betting that they will never do anything wrong. Trust cannot be founded on illusion. For the insensitive will not overnight become sensitive; the gossip will not necessarily keep your secret. The world is not an innocent playground on which everyone wishes us well, and we must face this fact. No, real trust is an unwavering acceptance of the other person as he is, and a sensitive reaching out for the best in him.

Thirdly, trust requires a gamble - a gamble of love, time, money, sometimes even our lives, on someone else. Trust will not always win. The man who trusts other men will make fewer mistakes than the one who distrusts them.

No great human achievement has ever been accomplished without trust. Nor has man been able to achieve greatness without trust. “Trust men and they will be true to you, treat them greatly and they will show themselves great.” - Ralph Waldo Emerson

Lest we forget...

May the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Love of God and the Fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you always, Amen

Brain Power

THE human brain is one of the most wonderful things in the entire universe. Most of us think of it as a delicate mechanism, which it is; but it is also sturdy and durable, a far more useful tool than is generally realized.

There is no such thing as “mental fatigue” or “brain lag,” The belief that long, concentrated mental effort produces tiredness in the brain itself, is a state cannot exist. Your brain is not like your muscles. Its operations are not muscular but electro-chemical in character, comparable in part to a direct-current wet-cell battery. When your brain appears tired after hours of mental work, the fatigue is almost certainly located in other parts of the body, your eyes, or the muscles of your neck and back. The brain itself can go on almost indefinitely. What seems like mental fatigue is often merely boredom. In reading a difficult book, for example, you are torn between the desire to go on and the impulse to stop. It’s often not fatigue that you feel but inattention and the inability to ignore distracting thoughts.

The brain’s capacity is almost inexhaustible. The part of your brain involved in thinking and memory, and all your conscious activities, has as its most important part 10 or 12 thousand million minute cells. Each of these has a set of tiny tendrils by means of which an electro-chemical message can pass from one cell to another. Thinking and memory are associated with the passage of these electrical currents. The wisest man who ever lived came nowhere near using the full capacity of his wonderful mental storehouse. (Quite possibly, people in general employ only 10 to 15 per cent of their brains’ capabilities.)

How the brain stores its memories is still not fully known. Some scientists believe that each item of memory is contained in a loop of cells connected by tiny tendrils with an electrical current going round and round the loop, which might be hundreds or thousands of cells in length. Other theories suggest that the memory is somehow “etched” on the cell, or exists on a chain of cells like knots in a string. We do know that for the first 30 to 60 minutes after being received, any sensory impression is “floating around” in the brain, not yet firmly registered. This may be why, after blows on the head, people often permanently forget what happened to them during the previous 15 or 20 minutes.

The number of items that can be remembered is far greater than the total number of brain cells. It’s been estimated that after 70 years of activity the brain may contain as many as 15 billion separate bits of information. Thus your memory is a treasure house whose size and strength are almost beyond human comprehension. It is a pity that so many of us store up so much less learning and experience than is possible.

Your I.Q. is less important than you probably think. Many of us have an unnecessary inferiority complex about our I.Q.’s - the figure that represents native intelligence as compared to that of the average individual. Your intelligence, it is true, is a matter of heredity, and changes very little if at all during your life. It is almost impossible to score higher on an intelligence test than your native mental equipment justifies. It is easy, however, to score lower in such a test than you deserve. This might result from temporary ill health or emotional disturbance. So, if you have ever seen your score on an I.Q. test, you can be sure that your I.Q. is at least that high.

Highly intelligent people have good blood circulation to the brain, bearing oxygen, glucose and certain other important chemicals. It is possible that a person with some very special talent - a mathematical or musical genius, for example - may have an unusually thick bundle of nerve fibres in one particular place in the brain.
But the physical endowment of your brain is far less important than what you do with it. The number of brain cells in an individual with an I.Q. of 100 (which is average) is large enough so that, used to the full, it could far exceed the record, so far as memory is concerned, of the greatest genius who ever lived. A person of average intelligence, who industriously stores up knowledge and skills year after year, is better off than a person with a very high I.Q. who refuses to study. What they possess in high degree is character, and the ability to plod ahead until they achieved what they had set out to do.

Age need not prevent your learning. One of the commonest misconceptions about the brain is that as you grow older something happens to it so that further attempts to study are difficult. This is true only to such a minute extent that for most of us it is of no practical importance.

You are born with all the brain cells you will ever have: a few of them die from time to time, and are not replaced. Except in the case of a serious brain disease, however, the numbers that die is negligible. It is true that all old people suffer impairment of their physical powers, and that some experience a decline of mental power. The best current medical opinion is that, in both cases, what happens is a series of minor “accidents” to various parts of our marvellously complicated physiological mechanism. None of these may be serious by itself, but the total effect can be severe. Impairment of the brain in the aged is associated with decreased circulation of the blood and the precious substances it carries, especially oxygen and glucose. This is probably why old people remember happenings of their youth more vividly than those of the recent past; the youthful memories were implanted on the brain when blood circulation was better.

Yet severe mental impairment occurs only in part of the elderly generation. Everyone knows of men and women who are vigorous and alert mentally into the ninth or even the tenth decade of life. Their existence proves that impaired mental powers are not an inevitable accompaniment of the passing years, but a result of disease processes. There is no reason why the average person cannot continue to learn with at least 85 to 90 per cent efficiency through the seventh decade and beyond. It would be a fine thing if retired people went back to school or university or began to learn new skills and subjects. On the false notion that they are “too old to learn” millions of elderly people cut themselves off from exhilarating intellectual adventures.

Your mental powers grow with use. Like the muscular system of the body, the brain tends to atrophy with disuse, and to become better with exercise. This is proved by the fact that if the optic nerve is destroyed early in life, the brain cells in the corresponding visual area of the brain stay undeveloped. As your brain matures, the nerve fibres are surrounded by a fatty substance called myelin, and they do not function properly until this has taken place. A new-born baby lacks most of its myelin, which is one reason why we cannot remember much that happened before we are two or three years old. Many physiologists believe that intensive exercise of any part of the brain encourages the growth of additional all-important myelin.

Anything you do with your brain exercises it, though obviously there is more exercise in doing something difficult than something easy. The more reasoning you do, the easier it is to go on to new reasoning. The ability to memorize also improves with practice. Every aspect of your personality is stored in your brain. This includes your will power, which is also developed by practice. Each time you exert your will to drive yourself to the completion of an unpleasant or irksome task you make it a little easier next time to do what you need to do.

The brain is the storehouse of the unconscious mind. The most wonderful part of your mind is undoubtedly the unconscious, which lies below the recoverable memory and is thousands of times larger. We don’t know that much about the unconscious mind, but we are learning fast and some day may know how to tap its great powers. Your unconscious mind contains many millions of past experiences that, so far as your conscious mind knows, are lost for ever. By means of several devices we now know how to bring back lost memories. One method is “free association,” used’ by psychiatrists. If a patient lets his mind wander at will, it can give him clues to forgotten things which, if they are skillfully pursued by a practitioner, will bring up whole networks of lost ideas and forgotten terrors. There are certain drugs which also help in this process; hypnotism, too, can be of tremendous value in exploring a person’s unconscious mind.

Many psychologists believe that we can make more use of our unconscious minds. Innumerable people have found that they can profitably “talk to” their unconscious. Some people find that they can bid themselves to wake up at a certain time in the morning. You can sometimes even improve your tomorrow’s mood if you will say to yourself when you go to bed - and believe it - that you will be more cheerful in the morning.

Your brain may be described (with severe over-simplification) as having three parts: the upper, the middle and the lower. The lower section is where the automatic functions of the brain are performed - keeping the blood and lungs functioning, for-instance. The mid-brain participates in these operations but also serves as a bridge, to pass messages on to the upper brain or cerebral cortex, the top part of the brain which holds the single characteristic which most strongly separates man from animal.

The earliest living organisms on the earth had only a trace of the upper brain, or none at all; as we come down through evolution, the proportion steadily increases, which is why the upper is called the “new brain.” Even the highest of the primates, the chimpanzee and the gorilla, have at most only one third as much upper brain as a human. While we have been developing the new brain, we have, of course, retained all the characteristics of the old. When certain areas inside your skull are electrically stimulated, you will bite and scratch like an animal. To some extent, the old brain represents ruthless egotism, while the new is the seat of elaborate abstract concepts like honour, high spirits and beauty. Growing up represents the triumph of the new brain over the old.

 Deep emotion in the old brain can blot out the circuits in the new brain which represent reason and foresight. The man who commits a murder in a sudden rage knows, with his new brain, that he is likely to be caught and punished, but he does not think of these things until his passion has subsided.

We must not, of course, try to live by the intellect alone or reject the legitimate and important demands of the emotions. Pushing down into the unconscious a legitimate emotional impulse can only cause it to fester there. We must, however, try to keep the old brain and the new in proper proportion to each other, remembering that when either gets the upper hand too completely the human being cannot properly fulfill his destiny.

Aren't GOD's creations just absolutely amazing?!!