WEEK 51.1 (DEC 20- DEC 26) – We don’t stop doing yoga when we get old, we get old when we stop doing yoga.
The Story of Thomas Edison
Building Character Through Persistence
When Thomas Edison was seeking to invent the electric light bulb, he had thousands of failures. He would record the results, make adjustments and try again. It took him approximately 10,000 experiments to invent the perfect set-up for the electric light bulb. Once an assistant asked him why he persisted after so many failures. Edison responded by saying he had not failed once. He had learned 10,000 things that didn’t work. There was no such thing as a failure in Edison’s mind.
“Your body is like the glass surrounding a lamp. Remember always, that you are not that lamp, but instead that flame burning bright inside.” – David Scott
“Courage. Kindness. Friendship. Character. These are the qualities that define us as human beings, and propel us, on occasion, to greatness.” – R.J. Palacio, Wonder
Character is not a virtue we are not born with. Character does not develop in the protected safety of the uterus, or a cocoon. Character is forged by the fire of challenges we face in life and overcome. The battle scars of character, should be honored, for they made us who we are.” – David Scott
“Sometimes you don’t realize your own strength until you come face to face with your greatest weakness.” – Susan Gale
“Courage is fear holding on a minute longer.” – George S. Patton
“A teenager named tommy practiced baseball each day at his neighborhood park. He would always watch as a group of old men would be sitting on the park benches, feeding pigeons. There was one other old man however that intrigued Tommy. At 90 years young, a man named Jose would be practicing yoga each day, under the shade of a tree. While he was well advanced in years, Jose seemed to look 20-years younger than the others.
One day Tommy went up to him and asked, “Mister why do you still work so hard everyday? Why aren’t you sitting on the benches like the others, resting and feeding pigeons? The wise old man laughed, with a sparkle in his eyes, he shrugged his shoulders and said, ‘Here is a paradox about life that I will share with you son, we don’t stop doing yoga when we get old, we get old when we stop doing yoga.'” – David Scott
At the end of life we will all ask ourselves, Did I live? Did I laugh? Did I love? Did I matter?
“We must take care to live not merely a long life, but a full one; for living a long life requires only good fortune, but living a full life requires character.” – Lucius Annaeus Seneca, Roman playwright (B.C. 4 – A.D. 65)
“When written in Chinese the word “crisis” is composed of two characters – one represents danger and the other represents opportunity.” – John F. Kennedy
“Yoga is a dance between control and surrender – between pushing and letting go – and when to push and to let go becomes part of the creative process, part of the open-ended exploration of your well-being.” –Joel Kramer
“There is nothing else in the world that can trouble you as much as your own thoughts. There is no greater wealth in this world than having peace of mind and health. Let go of the thoughts that don’t make you strong”
“Not all storms come to disrupt your life, some come to clear your path.”
“There is tremendous value in hitting rock bottom. We are healed from suffering only by experiencing it, in all of its furry.” David Scott”
“One of life’s great awakenings, is when you finally realize that not everyone will change. And that is their journey and not yours to try to fix it for them.”
“There is no path to happiness: happiness is the path. You cannot travel on the path until you become the path itself.” – Buddha
“Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, vision cleared, ambition inspired, and success achieved” – Hellen Keller
“Judge your success by what you had to give up in order to get it.” – Dalai Lama, Tibetan religious leader (1935- )
“Peace cannot be kept by force; it can only be achieved by understanding.” – Albert Einstein
When we seek to discover the best in others, we somehow bring out the best in ourselves. William Arthur Ward
“No one saves us but ourselves. No one can and no one may. We ourselves must walk the path.” – Buddha
“Just as we develop our physical muscles through overcoming opposition – such as lifting weights – we develop our character muscles by overcoming challenges and adversity.” – Stephen Covey
If you don’t like something, change it. If you can’t change it, change your attitude. – Maya Angelou
“Hate, it has caused a lot of problems in the world, but has not solved one yet.” – Maya Angelou
“Some of us think holding on makes us strong; but sometimes it is letting go.” – Hermann Hesse
“It is not the mountain we conquer but ourselves.” – Edmund Hillary
“The gem cannot be polished without friction, nor man perfected without trials.” – Confucius
“I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear.” – Nelson Mandela
“Be more concerned with your character than your reputation, because your character is what you really are, while your reputation is merely what others think you are.” – John Wooden
“Forgiving someone may cost you your pride, but in not forgiving them it will cost you your freedom.”
“Kindness is having the ability to speak with love, listen with patience, touch with gentle kindness and act with compassion.” David Scott
“A clay pot sitting in the sun will always remain just a clay pot. It has to go through the white heat of the furnace to become porcelain.” – Mildred W. Struven
“I’ve learned that making a ‘Living; is not the same as making a ‘Life'” – Maya Angelou
“People usually consider walking on water or in thin air a miracle. But I think the real miracle is not to walk either on water or in thin air, but to walk on earth. Every day we are engaged in a miracle which we don’t even recognize: a blue sky, white clouds, green leaves, and the black, curious eyes of a child— our own two eyes. All is a miracle.” – Thich Nhat Hanh
“Inaction breeds doubt and fear. Action breeds confidence and courage. If you want to conquer fear, do not sit home and think about it. Go out and get busy.” – Dale Carnegie
“Whatever you are physically…male or female, strong or weak, ill or healthy–all those things matter less than what your heart contains. If you have the soul of a warrior, you are a warrior. All those other things, they are the glass that contains the lamp, but you are the light inside.” – Cassandra Clare, Clockwork Angel
“Focus on your strengths, not your weaknesses. Focus on your character, not your reputation. Focus on your blessings, not your misfortunes.” -Roy T. Bennett, The Light in the Heart