Monthly Archives: March 2011

La Tour Eiffel….

Darlings,

In Lady Yoga fashion, it is my goal to look back in history to see where we have come from, find the yoga in the moments past to keep us rooted in the present and passionate about where we are going in the future.

On that note...

In 1887 there was a contest to design a building. The structure was to be the entrance for the World Fair in Paris honoring the 100th anniversary of the storming of the Bastille or the start of the French Revolution. Out of 100 submissions a structural engineer and metallic architect won the gig. It was the 19th century version of the reality show without Ryan Seacrest! The structure took two years, 200 workers and many skeptical words and doubts of it’s strength as masses watched and waited, the tower getting stronger and higher. It stands 1000 feet in the air, supported by an iron framework on four stonework piers from rising to four columns that unite to form a single vertical tower.

YOGA

La Tour Eiffel or the Iron Lady was the tallest man made structure (till the Chrysler Building in 1930.)

March 31st, back in 1889, was the official dedication and reveal of Gustave Eiffel’s tower, the most visited paid monument in the world, one of the most beautiful and one that has stood the test of time.

In yoga, It takes a strong foundation and much time to build strength. There are doubts and days of struggle. But the process is the result and the result stands the test of time.

Let's use the collective intention of foundation - building from the ground up and standing in strength and creativity.

A successful person (man) is one who can lay a firm foundation with bricks others have thrown at him. - David Brinkly

People (men) must live and create. Live to the point of tears. Albert Camus

Build this day on a foundation of pleasant thoughts. Never fret at any imperfections that you fear may impede your progress. Remind yourself, as often as necessary, that you…have the power to achieve any dream by lifting up your thoughts. You can fly when you decide that you can. Never consider yourself defeated again. Let the vision in your heart be in your life's blueprint. Smile!” -Og Mandino

Character is like the foundation of a house, it is below the surface. – Unknown

Do you wish to rise? begin by descending. You plan a tower that will

pierce the clouds? Lay first the foundation of humility. – Saint Augustine

Do you wish to be great? Then begin by being. Do you desire to construct a vast and lofty fabric? Think first about the foundations of humility. The higher your structure is to be, the deeper must be its foundation. Saint Augustine

To create something you must be something. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Imagination is the beginning of creation. You imagine what you desire,

you will what you imagine and at last you create what you will. George Bernard Shaw

Everything comes to us that belongs to us if we create the capacity to

receive it. Rabindranath Tagore

Thinking is easy, acting is difficult. to put one's thoughts into

action is the most difficult thing in the world. Goethe

People (men) in the game are blind to see what those looking on see

clearly. - Chinese Proverb

I seldom end up where I wanted to go, but I almost always end up where

I need to be. - Douglas Adams

He who controls the present, controls the past. he who controls the

past, controls the future. -George Orwell

In the middle of difficulty, lies opportunity. - Albert Einstein

Success is often achieved by those who don't know that failure is

inevitable. - Coco Chanel

The struggle itself towards the heights is enough to fill a man's

heart. - Albert Camus

Learning is finding out what you already know. - Richard Back

All growth is a leap in the dark. A spontaneous unpremeditated act

without benefit of experience. -Henry Miller

There are no such limits to growth because there are no limits to the

human capacity for intelligence, imagination and wonder. - Ronald

Reagan

The foundation stones for a balanced success are honesty, character,

integrity, faith, love and loyalty. - Zig Ziglar

Character is the firm foundation stone upon which one must build to

win respect. just as no worthy building can be erected on such a weak

foundation, so no lasting reputation worthy of respect can be built on

a weak character. - R.C. Samsel

Yoga prepares the body for meditation on which allows us to observe our

thoughts so that we are not controlled by them. Harmonize the mind

with the body. Keep the focus at the heart as opposed to everything

going on in the mind. Dr. Tom Being Erica

We create our faith every day we live. - Henry Miller

In the sky, there is no distinction of east and west; people create distinctions out of their own minds and then believe them to be true. -Buddha

The human body has two ends on it: one to create with and one to sit

on. Sometimes people get their ends reversed. When this happens they

need a kick in the seat of the pants. Theodore Roosevelt

How am I going to live today in order to create the tomorrow I'm

committed to? Tony Robbins

People create their own questions because they are afraid to look

straight. All you have to do is look straight and see the road, and

when you see it, don't sit looking at it - walk. Ayn Rand

The best way to predict the future is to create it. Peter Drucker

Watch your thoughts; they become words. Watch your words, they become

actions. Watch your actions, they become habits. watch your habits;

they become your character. Watch your character; it becomes your

destiny. Frank Outlaw (supermarket manager/created Bi-Lo in So.

Carolina, played supermarket manager in Raising Arizona

Set your intention. Intention is the foundation, the thing that stills the mind. Deepen the breath. Breath keeps your mind intent on one still point of focus, steadying the wind of the mind. Engage the muscles. Muscles support you staying grounded as you strengthen and stretch beyond your edge and what you think you can do in your mind. Do all three together and you've made a song of alignment you can sing louder than any tumult of external circumstances. -c'est moi

You remember when you were little with your coloring book? Think about all those black and white lines forming whatever picture/structure on the page. Without those lines, you just have a white page. Kind of boring. The lines are fun, because they give us the safe structure to help us see beyond. Then you break out the Crayolas. Color, explore, soar and create in and outside the safe alignment of structure. On the page with crayons and on the mat with your body.- c'est moi

Trust yourself. Create the kind of self that you will be happy to live

with all your life. Make the most of yourself by fanning the tiny,

inner sparks of possibility into flames of achievement. Golda Meir

Rainbows and foundation,

Lady

Spring it on…

Darlings,

In Lady Yoga fashion, it is my goal to look back in history to see where we have come from, find the yoga in the moments past to keep us rooted in the present and passionate about where we are going in the future.

On that note...

Spring has sprung. It might not actually FEEL like spring...we've had a lot of rain, it's cold out...but the days are longer and we feel it in the air. It's coming. The earth always knows how to transition and we...accommodate.

Our bodies need time to transition from the cold, more sedentary energy that keeps us indoors more, comforted with heavier clothing, food, rest and hibernation. We need a little time and effort to allow the stagnation of winter to move out of the body and mind and get ready for the light day, air, clothing and food we are about to imbibe as weather becomes warmer.

Yoga has a sister science called Ayurveda and whether you are versed in it or not it is actually an instinctual draw our bodies and minds cling too during the seasons of the year. There are constitutions, Kapha, Vata and Pitta.

I won't go into all of that now, but just know, that right now, we are in Vata which, simply speaking is related to air. It's related to our assimilation and elimination of things. Air moves things in and out. It's related to our circulation and nervous system. Winter is about Kapha, earth, and water, grounding, in balance. It's ruled by the heart and lungs. Out of balance it can be heavy, lethargic. Vata is about lightness, often attributed to transition. As we transition from one season to the next, Vata can be ever present. It's most important, during our transition times to find the grounding we need so that we don't fly away with the wind. Most simply, we need to engage in routine, sort out sukha or happiness...a happy place in our homes or our minds or a little totem or symbol we can place a grounding word, thought or intention into. Make this place or thing clear so that we can go to it when we feel out of sorts, all over the place or ungrounded.

There are many physical, yogic postures we can engage in to ignite the agni or fire within so that we can stay mobile but grounded, release any stagnancy that the winter or kaphic months produced so that we can remain clear in the body and mind and open to all that life has in store for us, all that we work hard for.

The pulse of life is quickening now as the earth warms, flowers bloom and the sun stays out longer for us to play under.

It's obvious as we look out doors that the April showers are here, that the May flowers are starting to blossom, but what about us? We need a little acknowledgement and nourishment for ourselves to spring effortlessly into Spring.

Asana (postures), pranayama (breathing), meditation, routine and a diet of light and regularly scheduled dining times should help us find our season within.

Uncover the space within and outside of yourself to find regularity. If you have a regular schedule each day, this should be easy. You wake up at the same time, eat at the same time, practice or work out at the same time and go to sleep at the same time. Sukha! - Happiness/balance/good space.

If your schedule is rather irregular, set up some regularity when you can, find that little space in the home or symbol/totem that you can keep with you or go to so you can separate yourself from work and obligations and tune in, even for a moment to breathe or move. If you have time for a yoga practice at a studio, great, squats and hip opening postures like chair (utkatasana) pose or wide legged squat (malasana) help to create heat, in the joints, improve mobility in the joints and aid in the digestive process, increasing circulation.

Deep Ujjayi breath, sun salutes and warriors in flow classes or the holding of postures in hot yoga classes (typical to the Bikram style) help to ignite the agni, heat within, without over exerting the body, allowing the stomach, chest, throat and head - the energetic points of Kapha to release any stagnant energy.

Just as much energy as you give to contracting the muscles, you should give to consciously relax internally. It's a dual effort. Each breath in focus on the work, each breath out, focus on the effortless within the effort...the letting go.

Try to engage with the idea of grounding through the legs and feeling the lightness and lifting of the upper body. Find the yoga or balance of both dualities.

And mostly, be gentle with yourself. Any yoga practice, any day, has its challenges. Whether you are on the mat or in the world, it is always possible to take one moment to step back and look at wherever you are at and face it with the fervor and delicateness that your situation needs for you to grow and progress. Never react. Respond as much as you can with both dualities, strength and softness.

This is true for any season.

Mindfulness, passion, love, nature, renewal, rebirth, spring-cleaning!!

These are all things we can enjoy if we tap into and remind ourselves that everyday is a new day to experience. Enjoy the transition and allow yourself the ability to observe the changes in nature and within.

Also, just a side note but a note of importance, the earthquake in Japan is just awful. The suffering and tumult that the people of that land are enduring are great. We can support them with our mind, our skills, our time, money and intention for relief and assistance and strength for them to get through this time.

However, the earth quaked. It was felt, mostly - 'over there', but when the earth quakes, it is the entire earth and media aside, it is impossible to ignore that the earth has moved creating MORE imbalance not just in the region it struck, but everywhere. We ARE of this earth. We feel it even thought it wasn't FELT.

We have to acknowledge that the unsettling feeling so far away has also affected us, not only from what we see but also from the earth beneath us. It has affected our balance, our practices, and us.

When you come to the mat and work out what you need to, please remember that we are ALL in this together and if you fall or can't hold a pose you were able to hold last week, it's not because you suck or that you are week or distracted, but that you are effected. We are all affected and connected.

Think of it not as a failure or downfall, but that just as you are trying to find your balance or strength, the effort you are making is helping, in a way, those people far away that need strength to.

Might sound ethereal but it's true. It's yoga.

You might think, as I sometimes do, that a helping hand is better than a praying hand, but if that's all that you can do, sometimes, that is all you can do. Use your practice, balancing on one leg, if you will and strength and send it like a ripple effort to those that might find it even harder to stand on two feet with the world they once knew in disarray. Our intentions and strength have power and it's just as strong as the earth and it's ability to move beneath us.

Just saying.

And so, here are the quotes I used in class. They are Spingspired.

So much to do, so little done, such things to be.

It's all about hope, kindness and a connection with one another. - Elizabeth Taylor

Springtime is the land awakening. The March winds are the morning yawn. ~Quoted by Lewis Grizzard in Kathy Sue Loudermilk, I Love You

Spring is nature's way of saying, "Let's party!" ~Robin Williams

Spring makes its own statement, so loud and clear that the gardener seems to be only one of the instruments, not the composer. ~Geoffrey B. Charlesworth

April prepares her green traffic light and the world thinks Go. ~Christopher Morley, John Mistletoe

Everything is blooming most recklessly; if it were voices instead of colors, there would be an unbelievable shrieking into the heart of the night. ~Rainer Maria Rilke, Letters of Rainer Maria Rilke

It's spring fever. That is what the name of it is. And when you've got it, you want - oh, you don't quite know what it is you do want, but it just fairly makes your heart ache, you want it so! ~Mark Twain

No matter how long the winter, spring is sure to follow. ~Proverb

Spring is when you feel like whistling even with a shoe full of slush. ~Doug Larson

If we had no winter, the spring would not be so pleasant; if we did not sometimes taste of adversity, prosperity would not be so welcome. ~Anne Bradstreet

No winter lasts forever; no spring skips its turn. ~Hal Borland

Every spring is the only spring - a perpetual astonishment. ~Ellis Peters

Spring has returned. The Earth is like a child that knows poems. ~Rainer Maria Rilke

The sun was warm but the wind was chill. You know how it is with an April day. ~Robert Frost

The first day of spring is one thing, and the first spring day is another. The difference between them is sometimes as great as a month. ~Henry Van Dyke

If you've never been thrilled to the very edges of your soul by a flower in spring bloom, maybe your soul has never been in bloom. ~Terri Guillemets

April hath put a spirit of youth in everything. ~William Shakespeare

Out with the cold, in with the woo. ~E. Marshall, "Spring Thought"

The seasons are what a symphony ought to be: four perfect movements in harmony with each other. ~Arthur Rubenstein

An optimist is the human personification of spring. - Susan J. Bissonette

If we had no winter, the spring would not be so pleasant; if we did not sometimes taste of adversity, prosperity would not be so welcome.- Anne Bradstreet

Sweet springtime is my time is your time is our time for springtime is love time and viva sweet love. - e.e. cummings

Spring is when life's alive in everything.- Christina Rossetti

Expect to have hope rekindled. Expect your prayers to be answered in wondrous ways. The dry seasons in life do not last. The spring rains will come again. -Sarah Ban Breathnach

Autumn is a second spring where every leaf is a flower -Albert Camus

It is strange that the years teach us patience, that the shorter our time, the greater our capacity for waiting. - Elizabeth Taylor

I feel very adventurous. There are so many doors opened and I'm not afraid to look behind them. - Elizabeth Taylor

Stability, Spring and diamonds,

Lady

Darlings,

In Lady Yoga fashion, it is my goal to look back in history to see where we have come from, find the yoga in the moments past to keep us rooted in the present and passionate about where we are going in the future.

On that note...

Spring has sprung. It might not actually FEEL like spring...we've had a lot of rain, it's cold out...but the days are longer and we feel it in the air. It's coming. The earth always knows how to transition and we...accommodate.

Our bodies need time to transition from the cold, more sedentary energy that keeps us indoors more, comforted with heavier clothing, food, rest and hibernation. We need a little time and effort to allow the stagnation of winter to move out of the body and mind and get ready for the light day, air, clothing and food we are about to imbibe as weather becomes warmer.

Yoga has a sister science called Ayurveda and whether you are versed in it or not it is actually an instinctual draw our bodies and minds cling too during the seasons of the year. There are constitutions, Kapha, Vata and Pitta.

I won't go into all of that now, but just know, that right now, we are in Vata which, simply speaking is related to air. It's related to our assimilation and elimination of things. Air moves things in and out. It's related to our circulation and nervous system. Winter is about Kapha, earth, and water, grounding, in balance. It's ruled by the heart and lungs. Out of balance it can be heavy, lethargic. Vata is about lightness, often attributed to transition. As we transition from one season to the next, Vata can be ever present. It's most important, during our transition times to find the grounding we need so that we don't fly away with the wind. Most simply, we need to engage in routine, sort out sukha or happiness...a happy place in our homes or our minds or a little totem or symbol we can place a grounding word, thought or intention into. Make this place or thing clear so that we can go to it when we feel out of sorts, all over the place or ungrounded.

There are many physical, yogic postures we can engage in to ignite the agni or fire within so that we can stay mobile but grounded, release any stagnancy that the winter or kaphic months produced so that we can remain clear in the body and mind and open to all that life has in store for us, all that we work hard for.

The pulse of life is quickening now as the earth warms, flowers bloom and the sun stays out longer for us to play under.

It's obvious as we look out doors that the April showers are here, that the May flowers are starting to blossom, but what about us? We need a little acknowledgement and nourishment for ourselves to spring effortlessly into Spring.

Asana (postures), pranayama (breathing), meditation, routine and a diet of light and regularly scheduled dining times should help us find our season within.

Uncover the space within and outside of yourself to find regularity. If you have a regular schedule each day, this should be easy. You wake up at the same time, eat at the same time, practice or work out at the same time and go to sleep at the same time. Sukha! - Happiness/balance/good space.

If your schedule is rather irregular, set up some regularity when you can, find that little space in the home or symbol/totem that you can keep with you or go to so you can separate yourself from work and obligations and tune in, even for a moment to breathe or move. If you have time for a yoga practice at a studio, great, squats and hip opening postures like chair (utkatasana) pose or wide legged squat (malasana) help to create heat, in the joints, improve mobility in the joints and aid in the digestive process, increasing circulation.

Deep Ujjayi breath, sun salutes and warriors in flow classes or the holding of postures in hot yoga classes (typical to the Bikram style) help to ignite the agni, heat within, without over exerting the body, allowing the stomach, chest, throat and head - the energetic points of Kapha to release any stagnant energy.

Just as much energy as you give to contracting the muscles, you should give to consciously relax internally. It's a dual effort. Each breath in focus on the work, each breath out, focus on the effortless within the effort...the letting go.

Try to engage with the idea of grounding through the legs and feeling the lightness and lifting of the upper body. Find the yoga or balance of both dualities.

And mostly, be gentle with yourself. Any yoga practice, any day, has its challenges. Whether you are on the mat or in the world, it is always possible to take one moment to step back and look at wherever you are at and face it with the fervor and delicateness that your situation needs for you to grow and progress. Never react. Respond as much as you can with both dualities, strength and softness.

This is true for any season.

Mindfulness, passion, love, nature, renewal, rebirth, spring-cleaning!!

These are all things we can enjoy if we tap into and remind ourselves that everyday is a new day to experience. Enjoy the transition and allow yourself the ability to observe the changes in nature and within.

Also, just a side note but a note of importance, the earthquake in Japan is just awful. The suffering and tumult that the people of that land are enduring are great. We can support them with our mind, our skills, our time, money and intention for relief and assistance and strength for them to get through this time.

However, the earth quaked. It was felt, mostly - 'over there', but when the earth quakes, it is the entire earth and media aside, it is impossible to ignore that the earth has moved creating MORE imbalance not just in the region it struck, but everywhere. We ARE of this earth. We feel it even thought it wasn't FELT.

We have to acknowledge that the unsettling feeling so far away has also affected us, not only from what we see but also from the earth beneath us. It has affected our balance, our practices, and us.

When you come to the mat and work out what you need to, please remember that we are ALL in this together and if you fall or can't hold a pose you were able to hold last week, it's not because you suck or that you are week or distracted, but that you are effected. We are all affected and connected.

Think of it not as a failure or downfall, but that just as you are trying to find your balance or strength, the effort you are making is helping, in a way, those people far away that need strength to.

Might sound ethereal but it's true. It's yoga.

You might think, as I sometimes do, that a helping hand is better than a praying hand, but if that's all that you can do, sometimes, that is all you can do. Use your practice, balancing on one leg, if you will and strength and send it like a ripple effort to those that might find it even harder to stand on two feet with the world they once knew in disarray. Our intentions and strength have power and it's just as strong as the earth and it's ability to move beneath us.

Just saying.

And so, here are the quotes I used in class. They are Spingspired.

So much to do, so little done, such things to be.

It's all about hope, kindness and a connection with one another. - Elizabeth Taylor

Springtime is the land awakening. The March winds are the morning yawn. ~Quoted by Lewis Grizzard in Kathy Sue Loudermilk, I Love You

Spring is nature's way of saying, "Let's party!" ~Robin Williams

Spring makes its own statement, so loud and clear that the gardener seems to be only one of the instruments, not the composer. ~Geoffrey B. Charlesworth

April prepares her green traffic light and the world thinks Go. ~Christopher Morley, John Mistletoe

Everything is blooming most recklessly; if it were voices instead of colors, there would be an unbelievable shrieking into the heart of the night. ~Rainer Maria Rilke, Letters of Rainer Maria Rilke

It's spring fever. That is what the name of it is. And when you've got it, you want - oh, you don't quite know what it is you do want, but it just fairly makes your heart ache, you want it so! ~Mark Twain

No matter how long the winter, spring is sure to follow. ~Proverb

Spring is when you feel like whistling even with a shoe full of slush. ~Doug Larson

If we had no winter, the spring would not be so pleasant; if we did not sometimes taste of adversity, prosperity would not be so welcome. ~Anne Bradstreet

No winter lasts forever; no spring skips its turn. ~Hal Borland

Every spring is the only spring - a perpetual astonishment. ~Ellis Peters

Spring has returned. The Earth is like a child that knows poems. ~Rainer Maria Rilke

The sun was warm but the wind was chill. You know how it is with an April day. ~Robert Frost

The first day of spring is one thing, and the first spring day is another. The difference between them is sometimes as great as a month. ~Henry Van Dyke

If you've never been thrilled to the very edges of your soul by a flower in spring bloom, maybe your soul has never been in bloom. ~Terri Guillemets

April hath put a spirit of youth in everything. ~William Shakespeare

Out with the cold, in with the woo. ~E. Marshall, "Spring Thought"

The seasons are what a symphony ought to be: four perfect movements in harmony with each other. ~Arthur Rubenstein

An optimist is the human personification of spring. - Susan J. Bissonette

If we had no winter, the spring would not be so pleasant; if we did not sometimes taste of adversity, prosperity would not be so welcome.- Anne Bradstreet

Sweet springtime is my time is your time is our time for springtime is love time and viva sweet love. - e.e. cummings

Spring is when life's alive in everything.- Christina Rossetti

Expect to have hope rekindled. Expect your prayers to be answered in wondrous ways. The dry seasons in life do not last. The spring rains will come again. -Sarah Ban Breathnach

Autumn is a second spring where every leaf is a flower -Albert Camus

It is strange that the years teach us patience, that the shorter our time, the greater our capacity for waiting. - Elizabeth Taylor

I feel very adventurous. There are so many doors opened and I'm not afraid to look behind them. - Elizabeth Taylor

Stability, Spring and diamonds,

Lady

Japan….

I feel disconnected.

I don't have a television and I poach the internet off a gracious neighbor of mine. It's slow speed so I barely get CNN. In this day and age, information is transferred quickly.
There is an earthquake and the ripples move fast across continents into blackberry's, iPhones and iPads, CNN and Satellite television. I am oblivious. I can only hear Norman Rockwell style, through word of mouth and the boy on the corner with the newspaper in his hand.
Bold headlines and staggering photographs. I can only imagine.
I remember 9/11 in NYC and even then, with cable TV and working just blocks from where it happened, smoke pluming above head, I was oblivious.
I was there and questions were being asked faster than news was able to answer...and that was an attack. When the earth attacks and I only get snippets of information and photographs that look like Godzilla has attacked, people running in fear, I almost don't know where to begin in response.
I watched the tsumami gobble up boats and homes like they were tick tacs and popsicle sticks. The earth can be bold in its movement of upheaval. From so far away I can donate money. My skill can only go so far. But when you are feeling helpless, a praying hand can aid the helping hands.
I can teach a class and gather our intentions toward peace and strength for those who need it most right now.
Hope, peace and strength...and love. If I can give more, I will. But right now, this is what we can do.

Once you choose hope, anything's possible. ~Christopher Reeve

When the world says, "Give up," Hope whispers, "Try it one more time." - Unknown

There is nothing so well known as that we should not expect something for nothing - but we all do and call it Hope. ~Edgar Howe

Hope is that thing with feathers that perches in the soul and sings the tune without the words and never stops... at all. ~Emily Dickinson

Hope begins in the dark, the stubborn hope that if you just show up and try to do the right thing, the dawn will come. ~Anne Lamott

All it takes is one bloom of hope to make a spiritual garden. ~Terri Guillemets

The miserable have no other medicine But only hope.~William Shakespeare

Be faithful in small things because it is in them that your strength. - Mother Teresa

Only one who devotes himself to a cause with his whole strength and soul can be a true master. For this reason mastery demands all of a person. -Albert Einstein

You've gotta have hope. Without hope life is meaningless. Without hope life is meaning less and less. ~Author Unknown

Hope is faith holding out its hand in the dark. ~George Iles

What doesn't kill us makes us stronger. 
-Friedrich Nietzsche

Hope is putting faith to work when doubting would be easier. ~Author Unknown

Hope is necessary in every condition. The miseries of poverty, sickness, of captivity, would, without this comfort, be insupportable. ~Samuel Johnson

Courage is not the absence of fear,
but rather the judgment that something else is more important than fear.
-Ambrose Redmoon

Take hope from the heart of man and you make him a beast of prey. ~Ouida

Tenderness and kindness are not signs of weakness and despair
but manifestations of strength and resolution. 
-Kahlil Gibran

Nothing is so strong as gentleness
and nothing is so gentle as real strength. 
-Frances de Sales

Strength does not come from physical capacity.
It comes from an indomitable will. 
-Mahatma Gandhi

Hope is but the dream of those who wake. ~Matthew Prior

Hope is grief's best music. ~Author Unknown

There is no hope unmingled with fear, and no fear unmingled with hope. ~Baruch Spinoza

Hope never abandons you, you abandon it. ~George Weinberg

Some see a hopeless end, while others see an endless hope. ~Author Unknown

Hope is like a road in the country; there was never a road, but when many people walk on it, the road comes into existence. ~Lin Yutang

If you knew everything was really all right, and that it has a happy ending, you would not feel trepidations about your future - Abraham-Hicks

The antidote to frustration is a calm faith, not in your own cleverness, or in hard toil, but in God's guidance- Norman Vincent Peale

Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement. Nothing can be done without hope and confidence. - Helen Keller

No matter how steep the mountain - the Lord is going to climb it with you. - Helen Steiner Rice

Faith is a bird that feels dawn breaking and sings while it is still dark.- Rabindranath Tagore

When the heart weeps for what is lost, the spirit laughs for what it has found. – Sufi Aphorism

Sorrow looks back, worry looks around, faith looks up. - Unknown

Hope is a waking dream. Aristotle

Faith is daring the soul to go beyond what the eyes can see. William Newton Clark

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

Hope is always available to us. When we feel defeated, we need only take a deep breath and say, "Yes," and hope will reappear. – Monroe Forester

You must not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is an ocean; if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty. –Mohandas Gandhi

We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope. - Martin Luther King, Jr.

If we did all the things we are capable of doing,
we would literally astound ourselves. 
-Thomas Edison

In our hearts,

Lady