Just some thoughts

When we stop trying to be what we are not, we realize our authenticity. 
.
Before we had knowledge, we were completely authentic. 
.
We learn to use knowledge to measure and judge.
.
In fact every day we are measuring and judging. 
.
Unfortunately we then go and create an image of perfection in our minds. 
.
An image of what we should be.
.
But are not. 
.
We replace knowledge for a harmony with nature. 
.
We believe in the lie of our imperfection.
.
For some of us they can move on and understand that we are as we are. 
.
When we realize this we can reclaim the truth of our perfection and live in love and acceptance.
.
So practice being non-judgemental. 
.
Realise that the same part of your mind that condemns you is the same voice that caused you to take that action in the first place!
.
We don’t even have to believe what we say to ourselves.
.
How many times do we count our misfortunes rather than our blessings? 
.
When we take time to open our eyes to the miracle of life we can see the many gifts that have been given to us. 
.
Remembering all the beautiful aspects of life and all the reasons you are blessed can immediately shift our mood. 
.
We can move from sorrow and despair to appreciation and hope.
.
Each time you find yourself complaining about something, re-direct your focus to something you are grateful for. 
.
Make a habit of transforming your awareness of troubles into an awareness of abundance.
.
Perfection is not when there is nothing to add.
.
But when there is nothing more to take away. 
.
True mastery of our lives is realising the simple joys of life.
.
Removing distractions and clutter from our lives.
.
The art of simplicity is knowing what to take away. 
.
Practice recognising when you’re spending your time on unimportant tasks and re-focus on the important.
.
Notice when you avoid doing what is more important.
.
Notice and become conscious as to why you do this.
.
Meet it head on and change this pattern.
.
Have courage to change.
.
After all it is your own life we are talking about.
.
And how do you want this to be?
.
As it is now?
.
Or maybe with a few improvements?
.
Your call!

Kindness

These I found and find powerful, I hope you do too

Kindness is a language which the deaf can hear and the and the blind can see. 

~Mark Twain

No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted. 

~Aesop

For attractive lips, speak words of kindness. 

~Audrey Hepburn

Kind words can be short and easy to speak but their echoes are truly endless.

~Mother Teresa

Whenever you are confronted with an opponent, conquer him with love.

~Gandhi

It is when you give of yourself that you truly give.

~Kahil Gibran

Choose being kind over being right, and you'll be right every time.

~Richard Carlson

Real generosity is doing something nice for someone who will never find out.

~Frank A. Clark

When we feel love and kindness toward others, it not only makes others feel loved and cared for, but it helps us also to develop inner happiness and peace. 

~Dalai Lama

Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.

~ Philo

Those who bring sunshine to the lives of others cannot keep it from themselves. 

~James Matthew Barrie

How beautiful a day can be when kindness touches it! 

~George Elliston

Kindness in words creates confidence. 

Kindness in thinking creates profundity.

Kindness in giving creates love.

~Lao-Tse

Don't wait for people to be friendly, show them how.

~Author Unknown

To be able to practice five things everywhere under heaven constitutes perfect virtue... gravity, generosity of soul, sincerity, earnestness, and kindness. 

~Confucius

I have found that among its other benefits, giving liberates the soul of the giver. 

~Maya Angelou

All of us are born for a reason, but all of us don't discover why. 

Success in life has nothing to do with what you gain in life or accomplish for yourself. 

It's what you do for others. 

~Danny Thomas

When you carry out acts of kindness you get a wonderful feeling inside. 

It is as though something inside your body responds and says, yes, this is how I ought to feel. ~Harold Kushner

Deeds of kindness are equal in weight to all the commandments. 

~Talmud

If you want others to be happy, practice compassion.

If you want to be happy, practice compassion. 

~Dalai Lama

Beginning today, treat everyone you meet as if they were going to be dead by midnight.

Extend to them all the care, kindness and understanding you can muster, and do it with no thought of any reward. 

Your life will never be the same again. 

~Og Mandino

Life is mostly froth and bubble; 

Two things stand like stone:

Kindness in another's trouble, 

Courage in your own. 

~Adam Lindsay Gordon

Love and kindness are never wasted. 

They always make a difference. 

~Barbara De Angelis

Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around. 

~Leo Buscaglia

Remember there's no such thing as a small act of kindness. 

Every act creates a ripple with no logical end.

 ~Scott Adams

Kindness trumps greed: it asks for sharing. 

Kindness trumps fear: it calls forth gratefulness and love. 

Kindness trumps even stupidity, for with sharing and love, one learns. 

~Marc Estrin

So many gods, so many creeds, 

So many paths that wind and wind, 

While just the art of being kind is all the sad world needs. 

~Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Today I bent the truth to be kind, and I have no regret, for I am far surer of what is kind than I am of what is true. 

~Robert Brault

If you haven't any charity in your heart, you have the worst kind of heart trouble. 

~Bob Hope

Treat everyone with politeness, even those who are rude to you - not because they are nice, but because you are. 

~Author Unknown

The origins of the expression "Piss Poor"

What are the origins of the expression "Piss Poor?"  They used to use urine to tan animal skins, so families used to all pee in a pot and then once a day it was taken & sold to the tannery.......if you had to do this to survive you were "Piss Poor." But worse than that were the really poor folk who couldn ' t even afford to buy a pot......they "didn' t have a pot to piss in" and were the lowest of the low. The next time you are washing your hands and complain because the water temperature isn't just how you like it, think about how things used to be. Here are some facts about the 1500s: Most people got married in June because they took their yearly bath in May, and they still smelled pretty good by June. However, since they were starting to smell . ..... .. brides carried a bouquet of flowers to hide the body odor. Hence the custom today of carrying a bouquet when getting married. Baths consisted of a big tub filled with hot water. The man of the house had the privilege of the nice clean water, then all the other sons and men, then the women and finally the children. Last of all the babies. By then the water was so dirty you could actually lose someone in it.. Hence the saying, "Don't throw the baby out with the bath water!" Houses had thatched roofs-thick straw-piled high, with no wood underneath. It was the only place for animals to get warm, so all the cats and other small animals (mice, bugs) lived in the roof. When it rained it became slippery and sometimes the animals would slip and fall off the roof... hence the saying "It's raining cats and dogs." There was nothing to stop things from falling into the house. This posed a real problem in the bedroom where bugs and other droppings could mess up your nice clean bed. Hence, a bed with big posts and a sheet hung over the top afforded some protection. That's how canopy beds came into existence. The floor was dirt. Only the wealthy had something other than dirt. Hence the saying, "Dirt poor." The wealthy had slate floors that would get slippery in the winter when wet, so they spread thresh (straw) on floor to help keep their footing. As the winter wore on, they added more thresh until, when you opened the door, it would all start slipping outside. A piece of wood was placed in the entrance-way. Hence: a thresh hold. (Getting quite an education, aren ' t you?) In those old days, they cooked in the kitchen with a big kettle that always hung over the fire. Every day they lit the fire and added things to the pot. They ate mostly vegetables and did not get much meat. They would eat the stew for dinner, leaving leftovers in the pot to get cold overnight and then start over the next day. Sometimes stew had food in it that had been there for quite a while. Hence the rhyme: Peas porridge hot, peas porridge cold, peas porridge in the pot nine days old. Sometimes they could obtain pork, which made them feel quite special. When visitors came over, they would hang up their bacon to show off. It was a sign of wealth that a man could, "bring home the bacon." They would cut off a little to share with guests and would all sit around and chew the fat. Those with money had plates made of pewter. Food with high acid content caused some of the lead to leach onto the food, causing lead poisoning death. This happened most often with tomatoes, so for the next 400 years or so, tomatoes were considered poisonous. Bread was divided according to status. Workers got the burnt bottom of the loaf, the family got the middle, and guests got the top, or the upper crust. Lead cups were used to drink ale or whisky. The combination would Sometimes knock the imbibers out for a couple of days. Someone walking along the road would take them for dead and prepare them for burial. They were laid out on the kitchen table for a couple of days and the family would gather around and eat and drink and wait and see if they would wake up. Hence the custom of holding a wake. England is old and small and the local folks started running out of places to bury people. So they would dig up coffins and would take the bones to a bone-house, and reuse the grave. When reopening these coffins, 1 out of 25 coffins were found to have scratch marks on the inside and they realized they had been burying people alive... So they would tie a string on the wrist of the corpse, lead it through the coffin and up through the ground and tie it to a bell. Someone would have to sit out in the graveyard all night (the graveyard shift.) to listen for the bell; thus, someone could be saved by the bell or was considered a dead ringer. And that's the truth....Now, whoever said history was boring!!!

So many lives

Sometimes I am asked how can I prove that we have many lives.
.
Or that reincarnation is real.
.
I have replied in a variety of ways.
.
Usually pointing out that it is not up to me to prove anything.
.
What we all choose to believe is our own business.
.
In my case it is not a belief it is an understanding that it is the truth.
.
A truth because for myself I have had that rare opportunity to put the question beyond any doubt.
.
For myself that is.
.
But for you?
.
It is a question to be answered by yourself through your own efforts.
.
However a little thought here might be helpful.
.
In this life the one you are in now you also have many lives.
.
We do not think of it in this way as we think of our current life as a continuum. 
.
Just think though when you were a child your life was very real.
.
Look around you at some little children and observe how they play.
.
How they live in this moment oblivious of adults or others around them.
.
Intent on their own experiences.
.
Then when they become teenagers.
.
Again intent on their own world and it's latest trends or fashions.
.
Again in our early twenties the same.
.
Young lovers oblivious to all around them.
.
Then we move on to our business or working life and are intent on our own careers..
.
Later as parents and we experience our total absorption in this section of our lives.
.
Middle age too we are focussed on our own needs.
.
Old age arrives all to soon and it is the same.
.
All of these are in a very real sense partitioned, separate lives.
.
Lives where we are immersed in the experience of that age, that time, that space.
.
And today what do we remember of them? 
.
Just fragments, mere fragments. 
.
Think about it how much of any of those stages do you really remember?
.
The truth be known not much unless aided by photos or someone describing an incident you both shared.
.
Those separate lives are what make us what we are now
.
Without even one day of all those different segments or lives we would be different people from what we are today.
.
We could not be what we are today.
.
The you of today is the sum total not only of those separate lives experienced in this incarnation but of all your other incarnations too.
.
The fact that you remember precious little about even this life does not invalidate it.
.
Does not mean it is not real. 
.
Of course it is,  you are the sum total of all those lives and experiences.
.
Just as you are the sum total of all your many previous lives.
.
Maybe the above does not answer your questions about reincarnation.
.
It does though point out that your remembering precious little about all your "lives" in this present life does not mean that this life is any less real.
.
Few of us remember much detail about this life we are in now.
.
Reincarnation is the only the way one can make sense of this life and what we are here for.
.
By this I mean looking at our abuse of nature, genocide, murder of each other, greed, selfishness and the rest.
.
How can you explain these appalling behaviours?
.
Certainly not through any current religious teachings or practice.
.
Could any loving God seriously allow these things?
.
Fully understand reincarnation and karma and you can then understand why things are as they are.
.
No other teaching can explain the situation on this planet in a satisfactory logical way.
.
Once understood life is different because something understood changes our experience of it.
.
Knowing this gives you greater peace of mind.
.
And greater peace of mind is something special
.
Something so much nicer than having ever more fear as the case for most today in our increasingly unpredictable and volatile world.

Simple ideas

.

No more twist ties or rubber bands

.

This method is waterproof and air tight 

.

Seal your plastic bags with old cut off bottle tops

.

Cut up a disposable water bottle and keep the neck and top as shown in the photo

.

Insert the plastic bag through the neck and screw the top to seal.

.

The bag is now made air-tight so that water will not leak

.

The effect is achieved by the top and screw cap

.

Zip top bags are great, but sometimes they do not meet your needs

. .

 Particularly if you are travelling and there are no shops around

 ..
                                      Or you just don't want to buy anything
.
                         Try this idea, it just might save you some frustration


And if you find that neat then how about this:

In places where there is no grid, houses can be dark. But a simple solution--a plastic bottle stuck in the roof--can light up a room.

We have lightbulbs made from glowing metal filaments, fluorescent gas, and LED diodes. 

And now we have one made of water. 

There is also a virtually unlimited supply since the "bulb" is composed of nothing more than one-liter plastic bottle, water, and bleach. 

The simple technology can be installed in less than an hour, lasts for five years, and is equivalent to a 60-watt bulb.

It works simply: The water defracts the light, letting it spread throughout the house instead of focusing on one point. 

The bleach keeps the water clear and microbe-free.

Adapted by students from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology focused on "appropriate technologies," the solar bottle bulb is illuminating poor settlements across the Philippines, where the organization Isang Litrong Liwanag ("A Liter of Light") has already installed 10,000 of them.
.
 Clever ideas.

Paraprosdokian

A paraprosdokian is a figure of speech in which the latter part of a sentence or phrase is surprising or unexpected in a way that causes the reader or listener to reframe or reinterpret the first part.

It is frequently used for humorous or dramatic effect, sometimes producing an anticlimax.

For this reason, it is extremely popular among comedians and satirists.

So here are some, enjoy

Going to church doesn't make you a Christian any more than standing in a garage makes you a car.

The last thing I want to do is hurt you, but it's still on the list.

If I agreed with you, we'd both be wrong.(I have to remember this one)

We never really grow up, we only learn how to act in public.

War does not determine who is right - only who is left.

Knowledge is knowing a tomato is a fruit; Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.

Evening news is where they begin with 'Good evening', and then proceed to tell you why it isn't.

To steal ideas from one person is plagiarism; To steal from many is research.

A bus station is where a bus stops. A train station is where a train stops. On my desk, I have a work station.

Dolphins are so smart that within a few weeks of captivity, they can train people to stand on the very edge of the pool and throw them fish.

I thought I wanted a career, turns out I just wanted pay checks.

A bank is a place that will lend you money, if you can prove that you don't need it.

Whenever I fill out an application, in the part that says "In an emergency, notify:" I put "DOCTOR".

I didn't say it was your fault, I said I was blaming you.

Why does someone believe you when you say there are four billion stars, but check when you say the paint is wet?

Why do Americans choose from just two people to run for president and 50 for Miss America ?

A clear conscience is usually the sign of a bad memory.

You do not need a parachute to skydive. You only need a parachute to skydive twice.

The voices in my head may not be real, but they have some good ideas!

Always borrow money from a pessimist. He won't expect it back.

A diplomat is someone who can tell you to go to hell in such a way that you will look forward to the trip.

Money can't buy happiness, but it sure makes misery easier to live with.

I discovered I scream the same way whether I'm about to be devoured by a great white shark or if a piece of seaweed touches my foot.

I used to be indecisive. Now I'm not sure.

I always take life with a grain of salt, plus a slice of lemon, and a shot of tequila.

You're never too old to learn something stupid.

To be sure of hitting the target, shoot first and call whatever you hit the target.

Nostalgia isn't what it used to be.

A bus is a vehicle that runs twice as fast when you are after it as when you are in it.

Change is inevitable, except from a vending machine.

In other parts of the world

Just a little smile

Scroll down the page on the link below

In other parts    http://surfwithberserk.com/in-other-parts-of-the-world    of the world

Are you doing any silly things this year?


Not necessarily silly silly but things where you relax and enjoy


Just a different something


Amusing maybe


Something where you make the effort for yourself


Don't waste the summer it will soon be gone!

Killing by numbers

It's easier to kill a number than an individual
.
Whether we're talking about so many tons of fish
.
So many board feet of timber
.
Or so many boxcars of cattle
.
The logic and processes of the machine can equally accept as inputs anything that can be quantified and measured.
.
Removing the nature and life of the number in question makes it easy to kill
.
Daily our leaders listen to so called collateral damage reports
.
Comfortably removing themselves from the idea that they are killing fellow humans
.
Reducing kills to numbers reduces any moral consideration
.
Just collateral damage that's all
.
Most people will not harm babies, but reduced to statistics and the importance of government position leaders everywhere do just that
.
Often on a mass scale
.
Daily for many
.
Are our leaders natural murderers then?
.
Some despots certainly, it is part of their make-up to kill without concern or interest
.
But for most today's cruelty is hard to imagine without the reduction of killing to numbers

So why do we continue to hide the human aspect?
.
To reduce killing to a numbers game
.
To hide killing behind mealy mouthed words
.
To eliminate the suffering of mothers and parents
.
To distance themselves from the reality
.
To continue this is morally wrong
.
We must end this hiding behind numbers and words
.
But wait a minute isn't that what they do all day long with everything they talk about?
.
Just numbers and words
.
Let them see those they kill
.
Let them personally explain why they feel killing to be an option
.
Better still let them spend time with those whose lives they ruin
.
Killing by numbers is not acceptable
.
No more hiding behind collateral damage
.
Killing is killing