“Take the first step in faith.  You don’t have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step.”  Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

“ Deep within you is everything that is perfect, ready to radiate through you and out into the world.”  Gifts From a Course in Miracles

“We gain strength, and courage and confidence by each experience in which we really stop to look fear in the face…we must do that which we think we cannot.”  Eleanor Roosevelt

“No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.”  Eleanor Roosevelt

“The doors we open and close each day decide the lives we live.”  Flore Whitemore

“Sometimes it’s the smallest decision that can change your life forever.”  Keri Russell

“There is no way to be a perfect mother, and a million ways to be a good one.”  Jill Churchill

“Little by little, one walks far”.  A Peruvian proverb

“The biggest adventure you can take is to live the life of your dreams.” Oprah Winfrey

“Surround yourself only with people who lift you higher.”  Oprah Winfrey

“Your mistake does not define who you are….you are your possibilities.”  Oprah Winfrey

“Understand that the right to choose your path is a sacred privilege.  Use it.  Dwell in possibilities.”  Oprah Winfrey

The Two Wolves

One evening an old Cherokee told his grandson about a battle that goes on inside people.

He said, “My son, the battle is between two wolves inside us all. 

One is fear, anyger, envy, jealously, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego.

The other is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion and faith.”

The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather, “Which wolf wins?” 

The old Cherokee simply replied, “The one you feed.”

The Journey

By Mary Oliver

One day you finally knew

What you had to do, and began,

though the voices around you

kept shouting

their bad advice—

though the whole house

began to tremble

and you felt the old tug

at your ankles.

“Mend my life!”

Each voice cried.

But you didn’t stop.

You knew what you had to do,

though the wind pried

with its stiff fingers

at the very foundations,

though their melancholy

was terrible.

It was already late

enough, and a wild night,

and the road full of fallen

branches and stones.

But little by little,

As you left their voices behind,

the stars began to burn

through the sheets of clouds,

and there was a new voice

which you slowly

recognized as your own,

that kept you company

as you strode deeper and deeper

into the world,

determined to do

the only thing you could do—

determined to save the only life you could save.