Before
we head into 2014, let’s take it
back, and learn what some
giants of yesterday--and a few
from today--have to say about
the way we should live our lives
tomorrow.
***
“Talk low, talk slow, and don’t
say too much.”
–John Wayne, reminding us that
2014 should be a year of way
less speaking, and far more
listening.
“Life can be understood
backwards–but it must be lived
forwards.”
–Søren Kierkegaard, imploring
us to leave the last year behind
us, and be very wary of looking
back.
“I've learned that people will
forget what you said, people will
forget what you did, but people
will never forget how you made
them feel.”
–Maya Angelou, on being
careful with the impression felt
by those around us in 2014; it’s
far more important than
whatever we say and do.
"I learned this, at least, by my
experiment; that if one advances
confidently in the direction of his
dreams, and endeavors to live
the life which he has imagined,
he will meet with a success
unexpected in common hours.
He will put some things behind,
will pass an invisible boundary;
new, universal, and more liberal
laws will begin to establish
themselves around and within
him; or the old laws will be
expanded, and interpreted in his
favor in a more liberal sense, and
he will live with the license of a
higher order of beings … If you
have built castles in the air, your
work need not be lost; that is
where they should be. Now put
the foundations under them."
–Henry David Thoreau, telling
us to pursue our dreams this
year–to build “castles in the air”–
as long as we put a foundation
under them.
“I imagine one of the reasons
people cling to their hates so
stubbornly is because they
sense, once hate is gone, they
will be forced to deal with pain.”
–James Baldwin, on how 2014
can be a year of forgiveness–and
finally dealing with pain.
“There are things to confess that
enrich the world, and things that
need not be said. ”
–Joni Mitchell, saying even with
social media all around us,
perhaps 2014 is a year when we
learn to not over-share.
“I find that the great thing in
this world is not so much where
we stand as in what direction
we are moving: To reach the
port of heaven, we must sail
sometimes with the wind and
sometimes against it—but we
must sail, and not drift, nor lie at
anchor.”
–Oliver Wendell Holmes
encouraging us to get off our
butts this year; whether with the
wind or against it, either way we
have to move .
“The better part of one's life
consists of his friendships.”
–Abraham Lincoln, in a letter to
a friend, reminding us that
friendships matter in 2014 (and
to write actual letters to friends).
“At some point in life the world's
beauty becomes enough. You
don't need to photograph, paint
or even remember it. It is
enough. No record of it needs to
be kept and you don't need
someone to share it with or tell
it to. When that happens—that
letting go—you let go because
you can.”
–Toni Morrison, on how we can
recognize the profound beauty
around us all year in 2014–and
let that beauty be enough.
“I want to be thoroughly used
up when I die, for the harder I
work, the more I live. I rejoice in
life for its own sake. Life is no
‘brief candle’ to me. It is sort of a
splendid torch which I have a
hold of for the moment, and I
want to make it burn as brightly
as possible before handing it
over to future generations.”
–George Bernard Shaw, on why
we should give 2014 every
ounce that we’ve got.

Interesting...

Yea. You can say that again. Even when i came across it while surfing the net, i couldn't help but pause and cogitate.. It truly is Mind-bending..