Risk

Do not fear risk.
All exploration, all growth is calculated.
Without challenge people cannot reach their higher selves.
Only if we are willing to walk over the edge can we become winners.

Written on Jan 28, 1987, the one-year anniversary of Challenger explosion, by the families of those who died.

Optimism

A pessimist is one who makes difficulties of his opportunities and an optimist is one who makes opportunities of his difficulties.

- Harry Truman

Integrity

It is not what we eat but what we digest that makes us strong;
not what we gain but what we save that make us rich;
not what we read but what we remember that makes us learned;
and not what we profess but what we practice that gives us Integrity.

- Anonymous

Character

When wealth is lost, nothing is lost;
When health is lost, something is lost;
When character is lost, all is lost.

- AnonymousGenius

To see things in the seed, that is genius.

- Lao-tzu

Experience

Experience is the hardest kind of teacher. It gives you the test first, and the lesson afterward.

- Anonymous

The rules for being human

1. YOU WILL RECEIVE A BODY

You may like it or hate it but it will be yours for the entire period this time around.

2. YOU WILL LEARN LESSONS

You are enrolled in a full-time informal school called life. Each day in this school you will have the opportunity to learn lessons. You may like the lessons or think them irrelevant or stupid

3. THERE ARE NO MISTAKES, ONLY LESSONS

Growth is a process of trial and error: experimentation. The "failed" experiments are as much a part of the process as the experiment that ultimately "works".

4. A LESSON IS REPEATED UNTIL LEARNED

A lesson will be presented to you in various forms until you have learned it. When you have learned it, you can then go to the next lesson.

5. LEARNING LESSONS DOES NOT END.

There is no part of life that does not contain its lesson. If you are alive, there are lessons to be learned.

6. "THERE" IS NO BETTER THAN "HERE"

When your "there" has become a "here" you will simply obtain another "there" that will, again, look better than "here."

7. OTHERS ARE MERELY MIRRORS OF YOU

You cannot love or hate something about another person unless it reflects to you something you love or hate in yourself.

8. WHAT YOU MAKE OF YOUR LIFE IS UP TO YOU

You have all the tools and resources you need, what you do with them is up to you. The choice is yours.

9. YOUR ANSWERS LIE INSIDE YOU  

Effort and rest

Can you stop the Earth from spinning? Can you stop the progression of
the seasons? As preposterous as it may sound, many people try, at least
with their own lives.

The Earth spins, and we have day and night. A time for effort, and a
time for rest. The slightly tilted Earth orbits the sun, and we have the
seasons of the year. A time for planting, for growing, for harvesting,
and for rest.

The cycle of effort and rest is deeply ingrained in the world around us,
and in us as well. A good night's sleep makes for a good day's work. And
a day full of effort, makes for a good night's sleep. Get too far off in
either direction -- work with no rest, or rest with no work -- and your
efforts become useless.

You cannot avoid the need for balance any more than you can stop the
Earth from spinning. Work hard, rest well, and enjoy the optimum
performance that comes from a well balanced life.
-- Ralph Marston

Action

Lettin' the cat outta the bag is a whole lot easier than puttin' it back.
- Unknown, Possibly from Cowboy's Guide to Life

Faith

Faith has to do with things that are not seen, and hope with things that are not in hand.
- Saint Thomas Aquinas