Tag Archives: Joy Jar

The 06/23/13 Joy Jar

23 Jun

Moi began the ‘Joy Jar’ project right after the Mayan end of the world thing went belly-up. This was a year-long experiment to find something to be grateful for every day. The ‘Joy Jar’ is half way through and moi is learning to ‘cultivate an attitude of gratitude.’ Today’s deposit into the ‘Joy Jar’ is an attitude of gratitude.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Cultivate the habit of being grateful for every good thing that comes to you, and to give thanks continuously. And because all things have contributed to your advancement, you should include all things in your gratitude.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson

 

 

 

 

 

“In the end, though, maybe we must all give up trying to pay back the people in this world who sustain our lives. In the end, maybe it’s wiser to surrender before the miraculous scope of human generosity and to just keep saying thank you, forever and sincerely, for as long as we have voices.”

Elizabeth Gilbert, Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman’s Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Let gratitude be the pillow upon which you kneel to say your nightly prayer. And let faith be the bridge you build to overcome evil and welcome good.”

Maya Angelou, Celebrations: Rituals of Peace and Prayer

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Acknowledging the good that you already have in your life is the foundation for all abundance.”

Eckhart Tolle, A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Walk as if you are kissing the Earth with your feet.”

Thich Nhat Hanh, Peace Is Every Step: The Path of Mindfulness in Everyday Life

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Sometimes life knocks you on your ass… get up, get up, get up!!! Happiness is not the absence of problems, it’s the ability to deal with them.”

― Steve Maraboli, Life, the Truth, and Being Free

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“To be grateful is to recognize the Love of God in everything He has given us – and He has given us everything. Every breath we draw is a gift of His love, every moment of existence is a grace, for it brings with it immense graces from Him.

Gratitude therefore takes nothing for granted, is never unresponsive, is constantly awakening to new wonder and to praise of the goodness of God. For the grateful person knows that God is good, not by hearsay but by experience. And that is what makes all the difference.”

― Thomas Merton

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“If the only prayer you said was thank you, that would be enough.”

Meister Eckhart

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The 06/22/13 Joy Jar

22 Jun

 

Moi went for a long walk this afternoon and when she looked at the sky she saw a clue blue sky with white puffy clouds that looked like gigantic cotton balls sprinkled across the sky. These were friendly clouds. Today’s deposit into the ‘Joy Jar’ are friendly clouds that look like gigantic cotton balls.

Clouds are God’s sneezes.

Ralph Wiggum

Celebrate your success and stand strong when adversity hits, for when the storm clouds come in, the eagles soar while the small birds take cover

Napolean Hill

God writes the Gospel not in the Bible alone, but also on trees, and in the flowers and clouds and stars.

Martin Luther

Your hopes, dreams and aspirations are legitimate. They are trying to take you airborne, above the clouds, above the storms, if you only let them

William James

A pessimist only sees the dark side of the clouds, and mopes; a philosopher sees both sides and shrugs; an optimist doesn’t see the clouds at all–he’s walking on them.

Leonard L. Levensen

Measure not God’s love and favour by your own feeling. The sun shines as clearly in the darkest day as it does in the brightest. The difference is not in the sun, but in some clouds which hinder the manifestation of the light thereof.

Richard Sibbes

To penetrate and dissipate these clouds of darkness, the general mind must be strengthened by education.
Thomas Jefferson

It is better to have your head in the clouds, and know where you are… than to breathe the clearer atmosphere below them, and think that you are in paradise.
Henry David Thoreau

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The 06/21/13 Joy Jar

21 Jun

 

Moi wants to accomplish a couple of things this summer. One a spend time writing and the other is to get healthy. Walking is not only great exercise, but it seems to stimulate one’s creativity. Today’s deposit into the ‘Joy Jar’ is the art of long walks.

Every man must decide whether he will walk in the light of creative altruism or in the darkness of destructive selfishness.
Martin Luther King, Jr.

No one saves us but ourselves. No one can and no one may. We ourselves must walk the path.
Buddha

As a single footstep will not make a path on the earth, so a single thought will not make a pathway in the mind. To make a deep physical path, we walk again and again. To make a deep mental path, we must think over and over the kind of thoughts we wish to dominate our lives.
Henry David Thoreau

I’m a slow walker, but I never walk back.
Abraham Lincoln

Walking is the best possible exercise. Habituate yourself to walk very fast.
Thomas Jefferson

There is no easy walk to freedom anywhere, and many of us will have to pass through the valley of the shadow of death again and again before we reach the mountaintop of our desires.
Nelson Mandela

The soul that sees beauty may sometimes walk alone.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks.
John Muir

“All truly great thoughts are conceived while walking.”
Friedrich Nietzsche, Twilight of the Idols

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The 06/20/13 Joy Jar

20 Jun

 

Moi found this great little pot on sale. It is striped in hues of brown, gold, and orange. It is a happy little pot and let moi day again it was on sale. Moi will use it in the kitchen to store utensils. Today’s deposit into the ‘Joy Jar’ is moi’s happy little pot.

“I thought clay must feel happy in the good potter’s hand.”
Janet Fitch, White Oleander

Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour?
Bible, Romans 9:21

Said one among them: “Surely not in vain
My substance of the common Earth was ta’en
And to this Figure moulded, to be broke,
Or trampled back to shapeless Earth again.”
Omar Khayyam (“The Tent-Maker”),

All this of Pot and Potter–Tell me then,
Who is the Potter, pray, and who the Pot?
Omar Khayyam (“The Tent-Maker”),

There’s a joy without canker or cark,
There’s a pleasure eternally new,
Tis to gloat on the glaze and the mark
Of china that’s ancient and blue;
Unchipp’d, all the centuries through
It has pass’d, since the chime of it rang,
And they fashion’d it, figures and hue,

In the reign of the Emperor Hwang.
Here’s a pot with a cot in a park,
In a park where the peach-blossoms blew,
Where the lovers eloped in the dark,

Lived, died, and were changed into two
Bright birds that eternally flew
Through the boughs of May, as they sang;
‘Tis a tale was undoubtedly true
n the reign of the Emperor Hwang.
Andrew Lang, Ballade of Blue China


Turn, turn, my wheel! Turn round and round
Without a pause, without a sound:
So spins the flying world away!
This clay, well mixed with marl and sand,
Follows the motion of my hand;
For some must follow, and some command,
Though all are made of clay!
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Keramos

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The 06/19/13 Joy Jar

19 Jun

 

Riding on the bus, moi looked at to what could have been a great sunset. Then the sky turned cloudy and the potential was lost. Still, sunsets are some of the most beautiful parts of the day. Today’s deposit into the ‘Joy Jar’ are those beautiful sunsets that just take your breath away.

“Clouds come floating into my life, no longer to carry rain or usher storm, but to add color to my sunset sky.”
Rabindranath Tagore, Stray Birds

“Soon it got dusk, a grapy dusk, a purple dusk over tangerine groves and long melon fields; the sun the color of pressed grapes, slashed with burgandy red, the fields the color of love and Spanish mysteries.”
Jack Kerouac, On the Road

“There’s a sunrise and a sunset every single day, and they’re absolutely free. Don’t miss so many of them.”

Jo Walton

“The point is that when I see a sunset or a waterfall or something, for a split second it’s so great, because for a little bit I’m out of my brain, and it’s got nothing to do with me. I’m not trying to figure it out, you know what I mean? And I wonder if I can somehow find a way to maintain that mind stillness.”
― Chris Evans

It is almost impossible to watch a sunset and not dream.Bern Williams

“If I can put one touch of rosy sunset into the life of any man or woman, I shall feel that I have worked with God.”
G.K. Chesterton

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The 06/18/13 Joy Jar

18 Jun

 

Moi doesn’t even know if it legal, not that the people who put posters or show bills on telephone poles really care. Some are colorful. Others just give facts, just the facts. These posters or show bills chronicle the life of a city from lost pets, to yard sales, to band dates, to political statements, to campaign ads and more. These bits of information, whether wanted or not are just signs of life. Today’s deposit into the ‘Joy Jar’ are the urban street posters.

“I remind myself that not everything is a sign, that some things simply are what they appear to be and should not be analyzed, deconstructed, or forced to bear the burden of metaphor, symbol, omen, or portent.”
Diane Schoemperlen, Our Lady of the Lost and Found: A Novel of Mary, Faith, and Friendship

“The sign said don’t do it, so naturally I did it. Signs are always saying stuff in a silent way.
 Writing is a way to say something in a silent way. 
”
Jarod Kintz, Seriously delirious, but not at all serious

“Signs imply ways of living, possibilities of existence, they are the symptoms of an overflowing (jaillissante) or exhausted (épuisée) life. But an artist cannot be content with an exhausted life, nor with a personal life. One does not write with one’s ego, one’s memory, and one’s illnesses. In the act of writing there’s an attempt to make life something more personal, to liberate life from what imprisons it…There is a profound link between signs, the event, life, and vitalism. It is the power of nonorganic life, that which can be found in a line of a drawing, a line of writing, a line of music. It is organisms that die, not life. There is no work of art that does not indicate an opening for life, a path between the cracks. Everything I have written has been vitalistic, at least I hope so, and constitutes a theory of signs and the event.”
Gilles Deleuze

“Art is an evolutionary act. The shape of art and its role in society is constantly changing. At no point is art static. There are no rules.”
Raymond Salvatore Harmon, BOMB: A Manifesto of Art Terrorism

Words are but the signs of ideas.
Samuel Johnson

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The 06/17/13 Joy Jar

16 Jun

 

Music is its own special type of worship, but the hymn takes the spiritually to a whole other level. Some hymns like ‘Amazing Grace’ or ‘Ava Maria’ can bring people to tears. Today’s deposit into the ‘Joy Jar’ are hymns.

“A few songs with Him might change the way you sing. Forever.”
Max Lucado, Next Door Savior

“It is natural to speak of hymns as “poems,” indiscriminately, for they have the same structure. But a hymn is not necessarily a poem, while a poem that can be sung as a hymn is something more than a poem. Imagination makes poems; devotion makes hymns. There can be poetry without emotion, but a hymn never. A poem may argue; a hymn must not. In short to be a hymn, what is written must express spiritual feelings and desires. The music of faith, hope and charity will be somewhere in its strain.”
Hezekiah Butterworth, The Story of the Hymns and Tunes

“The fineness which a hymn or psalm affords If when the soul unto the lines accords”

George Herbert

“And when they had sung an hymn, they went out into the mount of Olives.”

Mark 14:26

You know when you’re young you think you will always be. As you become more fragile, you reflect and you realize how much comfort can come from the past. Hymns can carry you into the future.
Andy Griffith

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The 06/15/13 Joy Jar

15 Jun

 

Sometimes, the simplest things are simply the best. An example is buttered toast. If one wants to make embellish buttered toast, just add jelly. Today’s deposit into the ‘Joy Jar’ is buttered toast.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A slice of hot, buttered toast is the perfect meal. It’s not too much and not too little, and it gives you just the right buzz.
Naveen Andrews

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I went to a restaurant that serves ‘breakfast at any time’. So I ordered French Toast during the Renaissance.
Steven Wright

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Toast without butter is like a day without sunshine.

 

Unknown

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“I have trouble with toast. Toast is very difficult. You have to watch it all the time or it burns up.”

 

Julia Child

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“If toast always lands butter-side down, and cats always land on their feet, what happens if you strap toast on the back of a cat and drop it?”

 

Stephen Wright

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If you’re in the game long enough, you’re going to be the toast of the town one day, and the next day you’ll be toast.
Alan K. Simpson

 

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The 06/14/13 Joy Jar

14 Jun

This country is at one of those junctures that occur periodically. Some in the 4th Estate have ceded their role as watchdogs to become lapdogs and not journalists. Today’s deposit in the ‘Joy Jar’ are those brave folk willing to practice the profession of journalism because they believe in ferreting out the truth.

Mathew Felling of CBS News lists the 10 Best Journalism Quotes:


Number 10:

The difference between literature and journalism is that journalism is unreadable and literature is not read.

  • Oscar Wilde

    Number 9:

    Our liberty depends on the freedom of the press, and that cannot be limited without being lost.

  • Thomas Jefferson

    Number 8:

    There can be no higher law in journalism than to tell the truth and to shame the devil.

  • Walter Lippmann

    Number 7:

    The liberty of the press is a blessing when we are inclined to write against others, and a calamity when we find ourselves overborne by the multitude of our assailants.

  • Samuel Johnson

    Number 6:

    A free press can be good or bad, but, most certainly, without freedom a press will never be anything but bad.

  • Albert Camus

    Number Five:

    Journalism can never be silent: that is its greatest virtue and its greatest fault. It must speak, and speak immediately, while the echoes of wonder, the claims of triumph and the signs of horror are still in the air.

  • Henry Anatole Grunwald

    Number Four: (Aka: Whenever you can think up a reason to bring up Grace Kelly, do it.)
    The freedom of the press works in such a way that there is not much freedom from it.

  • Grace Kelly

    Number Three:

    News is something someone wants suppressed. Everything else is just advertising.

  • Lord Northcliff

    Number Two:

    Were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers, or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter.

  • Thomas Jefferson

    Number One: (You’ll thank us for this at the picnic.)

    A news story should be like a mini skirt on a pretty woman. Long enough to cover the subject but short enough to be interesting.

  • Anonymous, linked to a Texas newspaper editor

© 2007 CBS Interactive Inc.. All Rights Reserved.

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-500486_162-3013288-500486.html

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The 06/13/13 Joy Jar

13 Jun

Moi was walking down the street and she noticed all the wheels. They were on buses, cars, bicycles, scooters, and carts. The wheels make it easier to get from here to there and to carry loads. Today’s deposit into the ‘Joy Jar’ is the wheel.

 

 

 

 

“Man has always assumed that he was more intelligent than dolphins because he had achieved so much…the wheel, New York, wars and so on…while all the dolphins had ever done was muck about in the water having a good time. But conversely, the dolphins had always believed that they were far more intelligent than man…for precisely the same reason.”

Douglas Adams

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Without question, the greatest invention in the history of mankind is beer. Oh, I grant you that the wheel was also a fine invention, but the wheel does not go nearly as well with pizza.”

Dave Barry

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 “The guy who invented the first wheel was an idiot. The guy who invented the other three, HE was a genius.”

Sid Cesar

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“The important thing is not the finding, it is the seeking, it is the devotion with which one spins the wheel of prayer and scripture, discovering the truth little by little. If this machine gave you the truth immediately, you would not recognize it,”

Ursula K. LeGuin

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Don’t reinvent the wheel, just realign it.”

Anthony J. De Angelo

 

 

 

 

 

 “The wheel of fortune turns round incessantly, and who can say to himself, “I shall today be uppermost”

Confucius

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“The wheel is come full circle.”

William Shakespeare

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