The Beauty Within

Each and every one of us is born possessing great beauty. All our lives we have exhibited beauty, whether we believe in this or not, through our smiles, our laughter, our tears, our compassion. Our inner beauty shines and serves as a guide in measuring beauty in others. Superficial imperfections become irrelevant as we discover that our ideas about what beauty is has changed; the concept that beauty is something merely external, an unattainable perfection to be admired and chased, becomes a foreign idea. The way we tend to those in need, a kind word given to someone feeling down, a smile shared with a stranger, a hand to hold when life gets to be too much…this is what true beauty, and each of us possesses all this and more.

Things are beautiful if you love them.
—Jean Anouilh

To do the useful thing, to say the courageous thing, to contemplate the beautiful thing: that is enough for one man’s life.
—T. S. Eliot

Though we travel the world over to find the beautiful. We must carry it with us or we will not find it.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson

Light, God’s eldest daughter, is a principal beauty...
—Thomas Fuller

Think of all the beauty still left around you and be happy.
—Anne Frank

Beauty is not in the face; beauty is in the light of the heart.
—Kahlil Gibran

To love beauty is to see light.
—Victor Hugo

You shine like stars in the universe.
—Philippians 2:15 NIV Bible

Let the beauty you love be what you do. There are a thousand ways to kneel and kiss the earth.
—Rumi

Ambition, the Nails of Success

Ambition has always been that which drives individuals forward. It’s what motivates us as a society to achieve more than our ancestors had. The relentless pursuit of excellence, wealth, fame, power, whatever your desire may be, is not, in and of itself, a bad thing. However, when ambition takes control of your life to the point where you no longer care who you step on to get what you want, you have crossed a line.

Be ambitious. Chase after your dreams and see them through. Be strong and persevere when others tell you that what you want is nothing more than a pipedream. No one ever achieved great success, saw dreams come true, by giving up. But be careful in your pursuits; like everything else in life, carrying your ambition forward is a balancing act between achievement at all cost and giving in, giving up. To that end, neither extreme will serve you well.


Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson

Make the most of yourself, for that is all there is of you.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson

I have learned, that if one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours.
—Henry David Thoreau

Something for Nothing

Everyone loves something for nothing, and since that doesn't happen everyday, you've got to take advantage of it when it does. So, here's a little something something for nothing nothing. Today it's quotes; down the road, find scripture, original verse and prose ... all for the taking.

Happy mining!

Quotes—
Today a reader, tomorrow a leader. —Margaret Fuller

Every man who knows how to read has it in his power to magnify himself, to multiply the ways in which he exists, to make his life full, significant, and interesting. —Aldous Huxley

Just to be is a blessing. Just to live is holy. —Rabbi Abraham Herschel

Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that. —Martin Luther King, Jr.

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 you think you cannot do. —Eleanor Roosevelt

My life can be so arranged that I can live on whatever I have. If I cannot live as I have lived in the past, I shall live differently, and living differently does not mean living with less attention to the things that make life gracious and pleasant or with less enjoyment of things of the mind. —Eleanor Roosevelt

If the only prayer you ever say in your entire life is thank you, it will be enough. —Meister Eckhart

Faith is the strength by which a shattered world shall emerge into the light. —Helen Keller

The hardest challenge is to be yourself in a world where everyone is trying to make you be somebody else. —E. E. Cummings

Talk not of wasted affection; affection never was wasted. —Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle. —Albert Einstein

The people that get on in this world are the people that get up and look for the circumstances that they want; and if they can't find them, they make them. —George Bernard Shaw

Do more than belong, participate. Do more than care, help. Do more than believe, practice. Do more than be fair, be kind. Do more than forgive, forget. Do more than dream, work. —William Arthur Ward

One must have chaos in ones self in order to give birth to a dancing star. —Nietzsche

Live with intention. Walk to the edge. Listen hard. Practice wellness. Play with abandon. Laugh. Choose with no regret. Continue to learn. Appreciate your friends. Do what you love. Love as if this is all there is. —Mary Anne Radmacher

Risk more than others think is safe. Care more than others think is wise. Dream more than others think is practical. Expect more than others think is possible. —Cadet Maxim

May you always have enough happiness to keep you sweet; enough trials to keep you strong; enough success to keep you eager; enough faith to give you courage; and enough determination to make each day a good day. —Irish Blessing

Dwell in possibility, —Emily Dickinson

Do one thing every day that scares you. —Eleanor Roosevelt

God is in those who persevere. —the Quran

What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us. —Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

Never, never, never give up. —Winston Churchill

Enjoy when you can, and endure when you must. —Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Our Deepest Fear...

"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.

It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God.

Your playing small doesn't serve the world. There's nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do.

We are born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us, it's in everyone.

And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others." —Marianne Williamson


Absolutely my favorite quote ever. Ever. Every time I hear those words spoken, every time I read them, I am inspired. Inspired to do more, to be more, to be better. Inspired not to let the fear keep me from whatever I want most in this life. I hope these words inspire you as well.

Exhibitionist vs. Voyeur

Something to think about … is blogging simply a means for ego-driven individuals to wax relentlessly on the trivial details of their lives, to live life as exhibitionists, or, is it a means for voyeurs to get a peek into the somewhat-private lives of others, thereby living vicariously through the words of those they read?

Personally, I think blogging may serve both purposes a little, an almost symbiotic relationship between “author” and “reader,” "exhibitionist" and "voyeur." Blogs offer readers more than just private details … they provide information, entertainment, perspective, a different point-of-view.

I haven’t really decided what kind of blog I publish. I can’t even decide whether there is a focus to it. Maybe, it’s just a little bit of everything…

For Whom Do We Create?

As creatives, we are accustomed to providing products that speak to the masses. After all, that's what we ourselves are designed to do: Create for others to consume. If no one read the words we wrote, would we still write? If no one looked at the art we created, would we still design?

I like to think so. Creation in and of itself should be for one's self, for the one, rather than for others to use, abuse, or admire. Introducing something new to the world that just one moment before never existed is a miracle, and that should be enough for all of us. Who cares, really, if anyone else sees what we do? The one that matters sees all we create, whether we share it with the world or not. To do that, to create and give back to the creator is more than any of us can hope for. I think that is the greatest contribution we creatives can make, to honor the one from whom all our talent is derived ... the rest, admiration and validation from the masses, is simply to feed the ego, which, from time to time, does need fed.

We all want others to love or hate what we create. We want our work to make an impression on people, good or bad, so long as it evokes emotion and gets people talking. But for most of us, that simply isn't the primary reason for creating our work. We create because we can, because we are driven to express ourselves in an artistic way, moved to use our God-given talent as expected to do so. Admiration and validation are secondary to all of that.

On second thought, I could be wrong about all of this ...

In Memoriam, for Matthew

Three years ago next month, my eldest son's best friend died in a car accident. It was a tragic loss, a shock to all of us, but to none more so than Matthew's mother and father. You see, Matthew was riding in the car with his father when his dad lost control on a back country road and slammed head-on into another vehicle. Matthew died instantly from a broken neck.

In the aftermath of all of this, while trying to console my son and make some sense of such a senseless accident, I wrote this poem in memory of Matthew...in memory of every child lost before his time and for the mothers who have to let them go.

In Memoriam, 7-12-05

In the stillness of your room
The only sounds,
Your breath and mine
I cradle you
Just for a moment,
But forever in time
Holding your body, skin on skin
Alone in the dark, in the peace of quiet
Just as once the whole of me held you
Resting alone inside my womb
One careless moment
Twelve years taken away
With you, a part of me died, too
Now I cradle you
Once more, once again
Once, for all of time
Clinging tight, skin on skin
Alone in the dark, in the pain of quiet
To say goodbye, to let you go
Resting alone inside your tomb

© 2005 Laura Hensley

Ironically, my eldest son broke his neck exactly six months later. He survived and did not experience even the slightest adverse affect...there but for the grace of God.

The Power of Words

Words are powerful. They can inspire, uplift, liberate, celebrate, and seduce; they can just as easily tear down, annihilate, abuse, and destroy. Words, whether spoken or written, affect our lives, affect our future selves. Guard against using them carelessly.