Preparing For Things That Matter

“Most people vastly overestimate the extent to which more money would improve our lives. Most schools and colleges spend too much time preparing students for careers and not enough preparing them to make social decisions. Most governments release a ton of data on economic trends but not enough on trust and other social conditions. In short, modern societies have developed vast institutions oriented around the things that are easy to count, not around the things that matter most. They have an affinity for material concerns and a primordial fear of moral and social ones…Governments keep initiating policies they think will produce prosperity, only to get sacked, time and again, from their spiritual blind side.”

~ David Brooks, from “The Sandra Bullock Trade,” New York Times (March 29, 2010)

My Dear

Remember to love myself, and do what I love.

A Warrior of Light

knows that he has much to be grateful for.

He was helped in his struggle by the angels; celestial forces placed each thing in its place, thus allowing him to give his best. That is why, at sunset, he kneels and gives thanks for the Protective Cloak surrounding him.

His companions say: "He's so lucky!" But he knows that "luck" is knowing to look around him and to see where his friends are, because it was through their words that the angels were able to make themselves heard.

(The Zahir by Paulo Coelho)

The Things That Matter

Kindness is a virtue that the blind can see and the deaf can hear.

Almost anything good you do will seem insignificant, but it is very important that you do it.- Ghandi

From How to Live Without Fear & Worry by K Sri Dhammananda
(free circulation)