About Friendships.......

I've learned -
that there are people who love you dearly,
but just don't know how to show it.

I've learned -
that just because someone
doesn't love you the way you want
them to, doesn't mean they don't love
you all they can.

I've learned -
that we don't have to change friends
if we understand that friends change.

I've learned -
that two people can look
at the exact same thing
and see something totally different

I've learned -
that just because two people argue,
it doesn't mean they don't love each other.
And just because they don't argue,
it doesn't mean they do.

-- Author Unknown

More From I. Lee

A Moment's Peace

Aquamarine crystal is a powerful meditation aid. It is said to give insight and foresight. Even without the crystal, meditating on the color can be effective.

Try this straightforward visualization. You can use the image at the right to help you.

Close your eyes and look inside yourself.
Imagine that inside your brain
the aquamarine color of a clear sea is glowing.
It has a mystical luminescence.
The light keeps glowing bigger and brighter
until it surrounds and pervades your body.

What do you feel?

You can access peace and relaxation.
You can access your true self
anytime you need it,
with the color of aquamarine.

Blood Anyone?

Many years ago, when I worked as a volunteer at Stanford
Hospital, I got to know a little girl named Liz who was suffering
from a rare and serious disease. Her only chance of recovery
appeared to be a blood transfusion from her 5-year old brother,
who had miraculously survived the same disease and had developed
the antibodies, needed to combat the illness. The doctor
explained the situation to her little brother, and asked the boy
if he would be willing to give his blood to his sister. I saw him
hesitate for only a moment before taking a deep breath and
saying, "Yes, I'll do it if it will save Liz."

As the transfusion progressed, he lay in bed next to his sister
and smiled, as we all did, seeing the color returning to her
cheeks. Then his face grew pale and his smile faded. He looked up
at the doctor and asked with a trembling voice, "Will I start to
die right away?" Being young, the boy had misunderstood the
doctor; he thought he was going to have to give his sister all of
his blood. Attitude, after all, is everything.

-- Author Unknown

Test Of Love

John Blanchard stood up from the bench straightened his Army
uniform, and studied the crowd of people making their way through
Grand Central Station. He looked for the girl whose heart he
knew, but whose face he didn't, the girl with the rose.

His interest in her had begun thirteen months before in a Florida
library. Taking a book off the shelf he found himself intrigued,
not with the words of the book, but with the notes penciled in
the margin. The soft handwriting reflected a thoughtful soul and
insightful mind. In the front of the book, he discovered the
previous owner's name, Miss Hollis Maynell. With time and effort
he located her address. She lived in New York City. He wrote her
a letter introducing himself and inviting her to correspond. The
next day he was shipped overseas for service in World War II.

During the next year and one month the two grew to know each
other through the mail. Each letter was a seed falling on a
fertile heart. A romance was budding. Blanchard requested a
photograph, but she refused. She felt that if he really cared, it
wouldn't matter what she looked like.

When the day finally came for him to return from Europe, they
scheduled their first meeting - 7:00 p.m. at the Grand Central
Station in New York. "You'll recognize me," she wrote, "by the
red rose I'll be wearing on my lapel." So at 7:00 he was in the
station looking for a girl whose heart he loved, but whose face
he'd never seen.

I'll let Mr. Blanchard tell You what happened: A young woman was
coming toward me, her figure long and slim. Her blonde hair lay
back in curls from her delicate ears; her eyes were blue as
flowers. Her lips and chin had a gentle firmness, and in her pale
green suit she was like springtime come alive. I started toward
her, entirely forgetting to notice that she was not wearing a
rose. As I moved, a small, provocative smile curved her lips.
"Going my way, sailor?" she murmured. Almost uncontrollably, I
made one step closer to her, and then I saw Hollis Maynell. She
was standing almost directly behind the girl. A woman well past
40, she had graying hair tucked under a worn hat. She was more
than plump, her thick-ankled feet thrust into low-heeled shoes.
The girl in the green suit was walking quickly away. I felt as
though I was split in two, so keen was my desire to follow her,
and yet so deep was my longing for the woman whose spirit had
truly companioned me and upheld my own. And there she stood. Her
pale, plump face was gentle and sensible, her gray eyes had a
warm and kindly twinkle. I did not hesitate. My fingers gripped
the small worn blue leather copy of the book that was to identify
me to her.

This would not be love, but it would be something precious,
something perhaps even better than love, a friendship for which I
had been and must ever be grateful. I squared my shoulders and
saluted and held out the book to the woman, even though while I
spoke I felt choked by the bitterness of my disappointment. "I'm
Lieutenant John Blanchard, and you must be Miss Maynell. I am so
glad you could meet me; may I take you to dinner?"

The woman's face broadened into a tolerant smile. "I don't know
what this is about, son," she answered, "but the young lady in
the green suit who just went by, she begged me to wear this rose
on my coat. And she said if you were to ask me out to dinner, I
should tell you that she is waiting for you in the big restaurant
across the street. She said it was some kind of test!"

It's not difficult to understand and admire Miss Maynell's
wisdom. The true nature of a heart is seen in its response to the
unattractive. "Tell me whom you love," Houssaye wrote, "And I
will tell you who you are."

Author Unknown

Thoughts To Ponder?

The paradox of our time in history is that we have taller
buildings, but shorter tempers; wider freeways, but narrower
viewpoints; we spend more, but have less; we buy more, but enjoy
it less.

We have bigger houses and smaller families; more conveniences,
but less time; we have more degrees, but less sense; more
knowledge, but less judgment; more experts, but more problems;
more medicine, but less wellness.

We drink too much, smoke too much, spend too recklessly, laugh
too little, drive too fast, get too angry too quickly, stay up
too late, get up too tired, read too seldom, watch TV too much,
and pray too seldom.

We have multiplied our possessions, but reduced our values. We
talk too much, love too seldom, and hate too often. We've learned
how to make a living, but not a life; We've added years to life,
not life to years.

We've been all the way to the moon and back, but have trouble
crossing the street to meet the new neighbor. We've conquered
outer space, but not inner space; We've done larger things, but
not better things; We've cleaned up the air, but polluted the
soul; we've split the atom, but not our prejudice; we write more,
but learn less; we plan more, but accomplish less. We've learned
to rush, but not to wait; We have higher incomes, but lower
morals; We have more food, but less appeasement; We build more
computers to hold more information to produce more copies than
ever, but have less communication; We've become long on quantity,
but short on quality.

These are the times of fast foods and slow digestion; tall men,
and short character; steep profits, and shallow relationships.
These are the times of world peace, but domestic warfare; more
leisure, but less fun; more kinds of food, but less nutrition.

These are days of two incomes, but more divorce; of fancier
houses, but broken homes. These are days of quick trips,
disposable diapers, throw away morality, one-night stands,
overweight bodies, and pills that do everything from cheer to
quiet, to kill.

It is a time when there is much in the show window and nothing in
the stockroom; a time when technology can bring this letter to
you, and a time when you can choose either to make a difference,
or just turn the page...

-- Author Unknown

An Interview With the Almighty..........

With my newly acquired title as a journalist, I decided to strike
a high note.

"Come in," God said to me, "so, you would like to interview Me?"

"If you have the time," I said.

He smiled and said: "My time is called eternity and is enough to
do everything; what questions do you have in mind to ask me?"

"None that are new to you. What's the one thing that surprises
you most about mankind?"

He answered: "That they get bored of being children, are in a
rush to grow up, and then long to be children again. "That they
lose their health to make money and then lose their money to
restore their health.

"That by thinking anxiously about the future, they forget the
present, such that they live neither for the present nor the
future.

"That they live as if they will never die, and they die as if
they had never lived..."

His hands took mine and we were silent. After a long period, I
said, "May I ask you another question?"

He replied with a smile. "As a Father, what would you ask your
children to do for the new year?"

"To learn that they cannot make anyone love them. What they can
do is to let themselves be loved."

"To learn that it takes years to build trust, and a few seconds
to destroy it.

"To learn that what is most valuable is not what they have in
their lives, but who they have in their lives.

"To learn that it is not good to compare themselves to others.
There will be others better or worse than they are.

"To learn that a rich person is not one who has the most, but is
one who needs the least.

"To learn that they should control their attitudes, otherwise
their attitudes will control them.

"To learn that it only takes a few seconds to open profound
wounds in persons we love, and that it takes many years to heal
them.

"To learn to forgive by practicing forgiveness.

"To learn that there are persons that love them dearly, but
simply do not know how to show their feelings.

"To learn that money can buy everything but happiness.

"To learn that while at times they may be entitled to be upset,
that does not give them the right to upset those around them.

"To learn that great dreams do not require great wings, but a
landing gear to achieve.

"To learn that true friends are scarce, he/she who has found one
has found a true treasure.

"To learn that it is not always enough that they be forgiven by
others, but that they forgive themselves.

"To learn that they are masters of what they keep to themselves
and slaves of what they say.

"To learn that they shall reap what they plant; if they plant
gossip they will harvest intrigues, if they plant love they will
harvest happiness.

"To learn that true happiness is not to achieve their goals but
to learn to be satisfied with what they already achieved.

"To learn that happiness is a decision. They decide to be happy
with what they are and have, or die from envy and jealousy of
what they lack.

"To learn that two people can look at the same thing and see
something totally different.

"To learn that those who are honest with themselves without
considering the consequences go far in life.

"To learn that even though they may think they have nothing to
give, when a friend cries with them, they find the strength to
appease the pain.

"To learn that by trying to hold on to loved ones, they very
quickly push them away; and by letting go of those they love,
they will be side by side forever."

-- Author Unknown

Three Reasons To Breath By I. Lee

There are three reasons for breathing.

Breathing supplies oxygen to the body.
Breathing relieves stress and
improves your emotional condition.
Breathing regulates your brain waves,
enhancing your concentration and creative power.

Breathing is the one involuntary function of the body
that we can also control consciously.
It provides a link into the depths of our minds,
a path by which we can encounter
the divinity that exists within.

For what purpose do you breathe?

Breathing guides you to deep meditation.
Inside of meditation, you can encounter a great soul.
The great soul that exists inside of you.
That’s who you really are.