'I have learned now that while those who speak about one's miseries usually hurt, those who keep silence hurt more.'

-- C.S. Lewis --

Love This

A letter from F. Scott Fitzgerald to his 11-year old daughter. Found here.

Skip to the 'don't worry about...' list if you don't want to read the whole thing.

La Paix, Rodgers' Forge
Towson, Maryland

August 8, 1933

Dear Pie:

I feel very strongly about you doing duty. Would you give me a little more documentation about your reading in French? I am glad you are happy — but I never believe much in happiness. I never believe in misery either. Those are things you see on the stage or the screen or the printed pages, they never really happen to you in life.

All I believe in in life is the rewards for virtue (according to your talents) and the punishments for not fulfilling your duties, which are doubly costly. If there is such a volume in the camp library, will you ask Mrs. Tyson to let you look up a sonnet of Shakespeare's in which the line occurs "Lillies that fester smell far worse than weeds."

Have had no thoughts today, life seems composed of getting up a Saturday Evening Post story. I think of you, and always pleasantly; but if you call me "Pappy" again I am going to take the White Cat out and beat his bottom hard, six times for every time you are impertinent. Do you react to that?

I will arrange the camp bill.

Halfwit, I will conclude.

Things to worry about:

Worry about courage
Worry about Cleanliness
Worry about efficiency
Worry about horsemanship
Worry about. . .

Things not to worry about:

Don't worry about popular opinion
Don't worry about dolls
Don't worry about the past
Don't worry about the future
Don't worry about growing up
Don't worry about anybody getting ahead of you
Don't worry about triumph
Don't worry about failure unless it comes through your own fault
Don't worry about mosquitoes
Don't worry about flies
Don't worry about insects in general
Don't worry about parents
Don't worry about boys
Don't worry about disappointments
Don't worry about pleasures
Don't worry about satisfactions

Things to think about:

What am I really aiming at?
How good am I really in comparison to my contemporaries in regard to:

(a) Scholarship
(b) Do I really understand about people and am I able to get along with them?
(c) Am I trying to make my body a useful instrument or am I neglecting it?

With dearest love,

Daddy

P.S. My come-back to your calling me Pappy is christening you by the word Egg, which implies that you belong to a very rudimentary state of life and that I could break you up and crack you open at my will and I think it would be a word that would hang on if I ever told it to your contemporaries. "Egg Fitzgerald." How would you like that to go through life with — "Eggie Fitzgerald" or "Bad Egg Fitzgerald" or any form that might occur to fertile minds? Try it once more and I swear to God I will hang it on you and it will be up to you to shake it off. Why borrow trouble?

Love anyhow.

I Like -

“There isn’t a person anywhere who isn’t capable of doing more than he thinks he can.”

~Henry Ford

and this -

-why don't you tell me that 

'if the girl had been worth having, she'd have waited for you'? 

-no, sir, the girl really worth having won't wait for anybody.

{ f. scott fitzgerald }

 

 

 

saw it on another blog yesterday and really liked it. (the quote is from 'this side of paradise.')

A Good Quote

I just saw this posted on a friend's blog and I love it. So I thought I'd share -

'The first service that one owes to others in community consists in listening to them. Just as love for God begins with listening to His Word, so the beginning of love for the brethren is learning to listen to them. It is God's love for us that He not only gives His Word but also lends us His ear. …Many people are looking for an ear that will listen. They do not find it among Christians because these Christians are talking where they should be listening. But he who can no longer listen to his brother will soon be no longer listening to God either; he will be doing nothing but prattle in the presence of God. This is the beginning of the death of the spiritual life, and, in the end, there is nothing left but spiritual chatter and clerical condescension arrayed in pious words.'

- Dietrich Bonhoeffer
(I have an audio book about him that I haven't listened to yet. - he was part of a failed assassination attempt on Hitler)

I think it's a great reminder of the need to listen to other people even if (maybe *especially* if?) their viewpoints differ from your own. Not that you have to agree. That's not what I'm saying at all. But I don't know that it's ever harmful to let someone explain where they're coming from. I think it can lead to a greater understanding of and love for your fellow man.

A Few Things, and Then to Bed

I've been thinking a lot lately about the idea that consistent, sustained effort is better than flash-in-the-pan moments of greatness. I mentioned this idea to my parents tonight asking if there was a quote or something that I was thinking of but just couldn't remember that described this idea and my mom sent me this -

If a man has any greatness in him, it comes to light, not in one flamboyant hour, but in the ledger of his daily work.

~ Beryl Markham ~

That's definitely the idea I've been thinking of, but not the quote or the source I was necessarily thinking of. If I come up with that, I'll let you know, but until then, I think that quote fits very nicely.

I've been thinking of this idea with my plans (hopes) for weight loss. I realized it doesn't matter how many days I can keep to extreme (healthy) eating habits if I break down and shove every unhealthy thing I can into my mouth. Which happens.

If, on the other hand, I'm consistently eating what's good for me and allowing myself an occasional treat and not beating myself up about it, I'm doing all right. Better than all right, I'm doing what will lead to permanent weight loss. Which is awesome.

I've been thinking about this idea more today because I had a fireside this evening that focused on a Book of Mormon reading challenge. They handed out a schedule that shows you what you need to read in order to be done by Christmas (starting 1 September). I think it's mostly 4-5 pages a day. Easily doable. When I first looked at it I thought, 'I can get a huge jump start on that.' Then I realized that, once again, it's not about these bursts of enthusiasm, but consistent, daily effort. Since I haven't been reading the BoM with any regularity lately it'll be best for me to start with consistent, simple efforts.

I think doing these two things - in this way - show a 'ledger of daily work' that will lead to positive (and lasting) things.

ps - in the fireside, the speaker - Elder Warren G. Tate - asked us to invite family members, friends, co-workers, etc. to participate in this challenge with us, promising that doing it will bring us closer to our Heavenly Father, and bring us answers to questions we've had. So, if you're reading this, consider this my invitation. Member of the Church, or not, I invite you all to read the Book of Mormon.

One thing Elder Tate mentioned was having a personal daily devotional. I like that idea, and have never really done that. I think that sounds like a great break from the daily grind and a wonderful way to either start or finish (or both?) the day.

And now... because it's almost midnight... I'm to bed.

Not Sure When I Wrote it Down -

'We take our own standards of life so much for granted, that we simply have no conception that they are not universal.'

- CD Williams, 1941

also --

'Tues - work, dead
- busy (or lazy?) night @ home
Wed - work, dead
- up to Draper for Devil Wears Prada
- left right after
Thurs - work, dead
- watched 'Rope' Jimmy Stewart Hitchcock movie
- packed for CA
Fri - work, dead left @ 11:30
- Dom and Jen's - airport around 1:20 (flight @ 2:20)
- delayed for engine trouble
- just read book contains two plane crashes
- guy that told me my flight was late did this weird scratching thing on my arm
- left @ 5:40
- gorgeous sunset - fiery red, golden orange, clouds divided layers of color, silhouette of mountains - fabulous
- arrived in Vegas
- plane @ our gate delayed getting off'

~ the first thing is a good quote
~the second thing is some weird itinerary thing I wrote down in which I obviously 'died' a lot...
~ i think it was when i was on my way to CA to surprise my sister (i had coordinated the trip with my bro-in-law) and my flights kept getting delayed.

{More}* Words of Wisdeom

*'more' because i'm sure i've used that title before, but i'm too tired (substitute busy, lazy, etc.) right now to find out for sure. even with the cool search feature on my blog.

Speaking of my love for Sabrina... (which I was doing just recently)

'You seem embarrassed by loneliness; by being alone. It's only a place to start.'

I'd much rather hold on to that than,

'La vida es sueno... - Your life is a dream and now it is over!'
(say that with a Spanish accent and it sounds fierce)

although that may be a good thing to remember every once and a while...

Isn't it Nice...

... to discover that we're not exactly what we thought we were?

------------------

I can't remember where I heard that, but I just saw it written down on a page of random notes I've taken and I remembered how much I like it.

I think it can be a great thing to discover that you're capable of being more than you were before. Of doing more, of learning more, of accomplishing more... and I like the idea of it possibly surprising ourselves more than anyone else.

Amen.

'You cannot think yourself into a better body.'

- Tanya Becker -
creator of the physique 57 technique

I've tried.
It's not possible.

Remember this?

Well, thanks to:
- my continuing weight loss (after a stagnant period - and a bit of a weight gain - over the holidays),
- my training for a half or full marathon (I haven't decided which yet),
- and my sister Bethany's suggestion that I start cross-training,

I put physique 57 on again today and started working my way into a better body.

And I did it for the full 57 minutes.
And my body is sore and shaky now.

And I love it.

I Like Quotes

Came across these recently:

The single biggest problem with communication is the illusion that it's taken place.
- George Bernard Shaw

Forever is composed of nows.
- Emily Dickinson

Nothing is so strong as gentleness, and nothing is so gentle as real strength.
- Ralph W. Sockman

Good Quote

Life is so much sometimes.

- Katie Wagley

-- I agree. Sometimes it is just so much. --

Words of Wisdom

'You want to make sure you're not marrying one of the members of Jackass.'

- Katie Wagley

I'm glad I have smart friends.

Sad, But Too Often True

' The hardest arithmetic to master is that which enables us to count our blessings.'

- Eric Hoffer

I Like

'Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance, you must keep moving.'
- Albert Einstein

image found here

Powerful

click to enlarge

...

... re-reading some of my blog entries (do people do that?), I found this quote posted almost a year ago:

"To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything, and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly be broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give your heart to no one, not even to an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements; lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket - safe, dark, motionless, airless - it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. The alternative to tragedy, or at least to the risk of tragedy, is damnation. The only place outside Heaven where you can be perfectly safe from all the dangers and perturbations of love is Hell." (emphasis added)

- CS Lewis, The Four Loves

Have I told you how much I love C.S. Lewis and his wonderful mind? Just tonight, I came across this one:

"There are two kinds of people: those who say to God, 'Thy will be done,' and those to whom God says, 'All right then, have it your way.'"

CS Lewis
found here

I try to be in the former group, but can probably-too-often be found in the latter group.

Awesome Quote

I think I've posted this on here before, but it crossed my mind this morning so I decided to look it up and post it (again):

"No man knows how bad he is till he has tried very hard to be good. A silly idea is current that good people do not know what temptation means. This is an obvious lie. Only those who try to resist temptation know how strong it is. After all, you find out the strength of the German army by fighting against it, not by giving in. You find out the strength of a wind by trying to walk against it, not by lying down. A man who gives in to temptation after five minutes simply does not know what it would have been like an hour later. That is why bad people, in one sense, know very little about badness. They have lived a sheltered life by always giving in. We never find out the strength of the evil impulse inside us until we try to fight it: and Christ, because he was the only man who never yielded to temptation, is also the only man who knows to the full what temptation means--the only complete realist."

- C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

Probably -

- my favorite line from SNL last week:

"After hearing that Osama bin Laden said that global warming is actually happening and a real concern, Al Gore responded: 'Yes! Oh, wait... who said...? Damn!'"

(the first part was paraphrased the "quote" from Gore was right on. and hilarious.
ps. it's not swearing if you're quoting, right?)

I Like This

Words to Live By

This is my second "collector's item" from the Wise Guy Collection.

My first one says, "Speak the Truth, Then Leave Immediately After."

I like them both.

For different reasons.

I also really liked the one that said, "Be the Kind of Person That Your Dog Thinks You Are."

My dog thinks I'm pretty awesome.