Did you know:

(1) If store mannequins were real women THEY'D BE TOO THIN TO MENSTRUATE.

(2) There are three billion women who don't look like supermodels and ONLY EIGHT WHO DO.

(3) Marilyn Monroe wore a SIZE 16.

(4) If Barbie were a real woman, she'd have to walk on all fours due to her proportions.

(5) The average American woman weighs 144 lbs. and wears between a Size 12 and 14.

(6) One out of every 4 college-age women has an eating disorder.

(7) The models in the magazines are airbrushed--THEY'RE NOT PERFECT!

(8) A psychological study in 1995 found that 3 minutes spent looking at models in a fashion magazine caused 70% of women to feel depressed, guilty and shameful.

(9) Models who twenty years ago weighed 8% less than the average woman, today weigh 23% less.

After awhile you learn the difference between holding a hand and chaining a soul.
You learn that love isn't leaning, but lending support.
You begin to accept your defeats with the grace of an adult, not the grief of a child.
You decide to build your roads on today, for tomorrow's ground is uncertain.
You help someone plant a garden instead of waiting for someone to bring you flowers.
You learn that God has given you the strength to endure, and that you really do have worth.

~Unknown

The above was taken from Issue 14 of Mind Magic

-somebody- is thinking of you.
-somebody -is caring about you.
-somebody -wants to be with you
-somebody- hopes you aren't in trouble
-somebody- wants to hold your hand
-somebody- is praying for you.
-somebody- hopes everything turns out alright
-somebody -wants you to be happy
-somebody- wants you to find him/her
-somebody- IS him/her
-somebody -wants to give you a gift
-somebody- hopes you're not too cold, and not too hot
-somebody- wants to hug you.
-somebody- loves you.
-somebody -needs your shoulder to cry on.
-somebody- wants to be your shoulder to cry on.
-somebody -wants you to believe in yourself and know that they believe in- you
-somebody -wants you to know you are always in his/her heart
-somebody -wants you to know that you are a part of him-her ... no matter how near or far you may be...
-somebody- misses your laugh!
-somebody -wants you to know that she/he cares and will always be there for you all, through everything
-somebody -had faith in all you are doing
-somebody -knows your inner strength, even if you can't always realize it yourself
-somebody -is singing along to "I Will Survive" and thinking of you, and that we all WILL survive.
-somebody -likes it when you stop just to say Hi!
-somebody- needs you just to be a friend.
-somebody -misses you, even if it's hard just to say hello
-somebody- sees the unique beauty in you, even when others don't seem to notice.
-somebody- needs your smile and your ear more than anything.
-somebody -knows you better than you think you know yourself.
-somebody -loves you anyway.
-somebody -wants to be better friends with you
-somebody- needs your love
-somebody- you take for granted cares about you That little somebody is me!

<<< Author Unknown >>>

Joy is a net of love by which you can catch souls.
--Mother Teresa

If one is lucky, a solitary fantasy can totally transform one million realities.
--Maya Angelou

Men are nicer to the women they don't marry.
-- Belle Livingston

Do you know why God withheld the sense of humor from women? So that we may love you instead of laugh at you.
--Mrs. Patrick Campbell (English actress)

There is nothing new except what has been forgotten.
-- Marie Antoinette 1755-1793, France

Love lights more fires that hate extinguishes.
--Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Show me a woman who doesn't feel guilty and I'll show you a man.
--Erica Jong

Don't compromise yourself. You are all you've got.
--Janis Joplin

An archaeologist is the best husband a woman can have; the older she gets, the more interested he is in her.
--Agatha Christie

I married beneath me. All women do.
Lady Nancy Astor -First woman member of the British Parliament

It is not power that corrupts, but fear. Fear of losing power corrupts.
--Aung San Suu Kyi 1991, Burma (Myanmar)

You cannot shake hands with a clenched fist.
--Indira Gandhi

No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.
--Eleanor Roosevelt

Whatever women do they must do twice as well as men to be thought half as good. Luckily, this is not difficult.
--Charlotte Whitton

I must govern the clock, not be governed by it.
--Golda Meir

You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You must do the thing which you think you cannot do.
-- Eleanor Roosevelt

It's not the men in my life that count, it's the life in my men.
--Mae West

Macho does not prove mucho.
--Zsa Zsa Gabor

If you want anything said, ask a man. If you want anything done, ask a woman.
--Margaret Thatcher 1989, England

I have yet to hear a man ask for advice on how to combine marriage and a career.
--Gloria Steinem

A good woman inspires a man; a brilliant woman interests him; a beautiful woman fascinates him; a sympathetic woman gets him.
--Helen Roland

I long to accomplish a great and noble task, but it is my chief duty to accomplish small tasks as if they were great and noble.
--Helen Keller

Pay heed to the word of your Mother as though it were the word of a God.
--Anonymous 3,000 B.C. Mesopotamia

If it is true that men are better than women because they are stronger, why aren't our sumo wrestlers in the government?
--Kishida Toshiko, 19th Century Japanese Feminist

I myself have never been able to find out precisely what feminism is; I only know that people call me a feminist whenever I express sentiments that differentiate me from a doormat.
--Rebecca West, The Clarion 1913, England

After an acquaintance of ten minutes, many women will exchange confidences that a man would not reveal to a lifelong friend.
--Page Smith

Kind hearts are the gardens,
Kind thoughts are the roots,
Kind words are the flowers,
Kind deeds are the fruits.

Take care of your garden,
And keep out the weeds;
Fill it with sunshine,
Kind words and kind deeds.

- Longfellow

"Life is like a coin: you can spend it any way you want, but you can only spend it once."
...Anonymous

"One of the secrets of a happy life is continuous small treats."
...Iris Murdoch

"Home is the place where we grumble the most, but are loved the best."
...Anonymous

"I don't know the key to success, but the key to failure is trying to please everyone."
...Bill Cosby

"Let the world know you as you are, not as you think you should be."
...Fannie Brice

"The best way to find your child's lost toy is to go barefoot."
...Anonymous

"No child is ever spoiled by too much attention."
...Dr. Bessie W. Blake

"The best way to make children good is to make them happy."
...Oscar Wilde

"Blessed is the influence of one true loving soul of another."
...George Eliot

"Maturity begins to grow when you can sense your concern for others outweighing your concern for yourself."
…John MacNoughton

"When deeds speak, words are nothing."
…African Proverb

"It is raining still…maybe it is not one of those showers that is here one minute and gone the next, as I had so boldly assumed. Maybe none of them are. After all, life in itself is a chain of rainy days. But there are times when not all of us have umbrellas to walk under. Those are the times when we need people who are willing to lend their umbrellas to a wet stranger on a rainy day. I think I'll go for a walk with my umbrella."
…Sun-Young Park

"Blessed are those that can give without remembering and take without forgetting."
…Elizabeth Bibesco

"Making the decision to have a child - it's momentous. It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body."
…Elizabeth Stone

"You never know when you are making a memory."
…Rickie Lee Jones

"A child needs your love most when she deserves it the least."
…Anonymous

"if we did all the things we were capable of doing, we would literally astound ourselves."
…Thomas Edison

"He who has a why to live for can bear almost any how."
…Friedrich Nietzsche

"The worst prison would be a closed heart."
…Pope John Paul II

First I was dying to finish high school and start college.
And then I was dying to finish college and start working.
And then I was dying to marry and have children.
And then I was dying for my children to grow old enough for school so I could return to work.
And then I was dying to retire.
And now, I am dying…
And suddenly…

I realized I forgot to live.

Anonymous

The following are some spiritual writings of Daniel, The Prophets Candle.

May the spirit of my voice rise upon gentle wings
And across the sky take flight.
May the murmur of my little stream
Sing sweetly unto this vast ocean of Life.

Journey into the quiet of your soul
Breathe deeply .
Hold this cleansing breath for a count of three.
Slowly exhale and return to normal breathing.

You are outdoors, in your favorite place,
The day is sunny and warm and you are completely relaxed.
A deep sense of peace and tranquility is filling you,
You begin to notice, that the light of the sun is going from golden to radiant white.

The light encompasses you, you breathe it in,
feeling it soothe and heal, you are home.
Listen to the quiet of your breath, of your heart,
Release your question to the ethers,
and hear your wisdom, your truth, the light within you.

You are now one with all that is, has been,
or ever will be. You know this place,
You know the voice, you are at peace.
It is here you are one with God.
It is here you are free.

The sunset of your needs shall be the sunrise of your fulfillment.

Pain comes not from others, but lies deep within ourselves

Our Father forgives us daily; how is it, that we cannot?

There is no ending to Life, only greater beginnings.

A dream is the midnight wandering of your soul's desires and remembrances.

The soul is a caged songbird, awaiting its freedom.

Happiness seeks solitude when Misery seeks company.

Lies are the clothing of shallow souls.

Money is the fool's master, and the wise man's servant.

To argue with a jackass, is to become yourself his next of kin.

Fear is man's only enemy, Love is his only salvation.

I have been given the key to my destiny, But it remains mine to unlock the door.

The greatest joy that any heart may contain is the smile of another's understanding.

Woe be it to he who hears the voice of Truth, but bends the words to fancy his own ears.

When each heart aches with another's tear, When each soul rejoices with another's smile, Truly shall then the world be one.

I see the world thru the loving eyes of my heart, and suffer the pain of unfulfilled visions.

That which we suffer shall serve to make us lovingly compassionate towards the suffering of others.

Beware of those who speak with religious conviction, but lack the tolerance of love.

Is it not sad, that brutality and greed rule a world conceived of love and compassion?

Though we have not met,
I know you.
Though we are but strangers,
I trust you.
And though we walk upon separate paths,
I love you;
For I have seen beneath the mask you
now wear and know you for what
you are.

I will bring to you love,
never sadness,
Laughter and joy, never tears.
I will bring to you moments of
gladness
And happiness thru the years.

Each morning we are born again. What we do today is what matters most.

At the bottom of things, people just want to be understood and appreciated.

Weigh the true advantages of forgiveness and resentment to the heart. Then choose.

The heart is like a garden. It can grow compassion or fear, resentment or love. What seeds will you plant there?

If you can't find the truth right where you are, where else do you think you will find it?

Life is so hard, how can we be anything but kind?

There is the path of fear and the path of love. Which one shall we follow?

In wisdom be a lamp, a light unto yourself.

Even loss and betrayal can bring us awakening.

Even our anger can be held with a heart of kindness.

In the end these things matter most:
How well did you love?
How fully did you live?
How deeply did you learn to let go?

Hope is something that brings sunshine into the shadows of our lives. It is our link to a better tomorrow.
When Hope is gone, so too is our life force.
And when hope is kept alive, so too is our determination to go on.

When you cherish the emotional value of a gift, it can never really be lost, for what you carry in your heart is yours to keep forever.

Sometimes, when we feel most alone in the universe, God sends us a "twin" -a mirror image- to buffer and assuage our sense of deference and isolation.

The bonds we make in our youth are everlasting. They are patterned into the fabric of our lives. Time shifts, looks change, and much is left behind as we move along. But there are bits and pieces of our past that follow us through life. Just like the woven threads of a tapestry that are integral to its design, friends from our childhood will continue to appear and reappear in our hearts and in our lives, because the bonds of youth remain.

At times, all we have to do in life is show up, be present, and allow the magic to unfold.

People can leave each other, cross continents, sever ties. But if there are lessons to be learned from one another, if they are meant to be together, then time and distance dissolve and they are reunited once again.

When you have a strong desire to perform an act of kindness, the universe assists in mysterious ways.

Sometimes we need to walk back over routes we've already traveled in order to help someone cross a path we've crossed before.

The darkest moments of one's life may carry the seeds of the brightest tomorrow.

The universe provides the answers to our questions. We can hear them if only we open our hearts and tune in our souls.

We think there is always a tomorrow, so why expose our feelings today? Why risk being vulnerable? Because today, what we love, what we feel, what is real, is what we have. Tomorrow, it may all change.

The path of truth is paved with a light that burns through darkness and dispels shame.

May we always be reminded to look up and not down, to look forward and not back, to look out and not in, and to lend a hand.

Anonymous

Before It Is Too Late

If you have a tender message,
Or a loving word to say,
Don't wait till you forget it,
But whisper it today;

The tender word unspoken,
The letter never sent,
The long forgotten messages,
The wealth of love unspent--

For these some hearts are breaking,
For these some loved ones wait;
So show them that you care for them,
Before it is too late.

~Frank Herb

Now is the lifetime that passes here,
Now is the best of all days;
Now is the flower's eternity in the sun,
Our chance of a lifetime.

"How lucky I am to have known someone who was so hard to say goodbye to."

There is a grand Mystery to life which touches the soul and the touch inspires a ray of bliss, a touch, a kiss, a token of the friend. One to behold.

A Mystery Unknown

I have spread my dreams under your feet. Tread softly because you tread on my dreams. -- William Butler Yeats --

The soul would have no rainbow had the eyes no tears. -- John Vance Cheney

It is such a secret place, the land of tears. -- Antoine de St. Exupery --