Calligraphy Prints and Posters. Desiderata, After A While,
Apache Wedding Blessing, Love Is Patient, Irish Blessing,
Serenity Prayer, Rumi, If, Legacy of an Adopted Child...

Desiderata
Go placidly amid the noise and the haste, and remember what peace there may be in silence. As far as possible, without surrender, be on good terms with all persons. Speak your truth quietly and clearly, and listen to others, even to the dull and ignorant; they too have their story. Avoid loud and aggressive persons; they are vexatious to the spirit. If you compare yourself with others, you may become vain or bitter, for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself. Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans. Keep interested in your own career however humble; it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time. Exercise caution in your business affairs, for the world is full of trickery. But let this not blind you to what virtue there is; many persons strive for high ideals, and everywhere life is full of heroism. Be yourself. Especially do not feign affection. Neither be cynical about love, for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment, it is as perennial as the grass. Take kindly the counsel of the years, gracefully surrendering the things of youth. Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune. But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings. Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness. Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself. You are a child of the universe no less than the trees and the stars; you have a right to be here. And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should. Therefore, be at peace with God, whatever you conceive Him to be. And whatever your labors and aspirations, in the noisy confusion of life, keep peace in your soul. With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world. Be cheerful. Strive to be happy.   by Max Ehrmann ©1927 Max Ehrmann, all rights reserved. © renewed 1954 Bertha Ehrmann. Reprinted by permission Robert L. Bell.

After A While
After a while you learn the subtle difference between holding a hand and chaining a soul  And you learn that love doesn't mean leaning and company doesn't mean security. And you begin to learn that kisses aren't contracts and presents aren't promises  And you begin to accept your defeats with your head up and your eyes ahead with the grace of a woman, not the grief of a child  And you learn to build all your roads on today because tomorrow's ground is too uncertain for plans and futures have a way of falling down in mid-flight. After a while you learn that even sunshine burns if you get too much. So you plant your own garden and decorate your own soul instead of waiting for someone to bring you flowers. And you learn that you really can endure that you really are strong and that you really do have worth  And you learn and you learn with every goodbye you learn...    ©1971 Veronica Shoffstall. Used with permission.

Apache Wedding Blessing
Now you will feel no rain, For each of you will be shelter to the other. Now you will feel no cold, For each of you will be warmth to the other. Now there is no more loneliness, For each of you will be companion to the other. Now you are two bodies, But there is only one life before you. Go now to your dwelling place To enter into the days of your togetherness. And may your days be good and long upon the earth.

Believe

Blossom
And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.  —Anaïs Nin   Used with Permission

Breathe

Chief Seattle
Each pine tree shining in the sun, each sandy beach, the mist hanging in the dark woods, every space, each huming bee, every part of the Earth is sacred to my people, Holy in their memory and experience. —Chief Seattle

Daisies
If I had my life to live over I'd dare to make more mistakes next time. I'd relax, I would limber up. I would be sillier than I have been this trip. I would take fewer things seriously. I would take more chances. I would climb more mountains and swim more rivers. I would eat more ice cream and less beans...If I had to do it again, I would travel lighter than I have...I would start barefoot earlier in the spring and stay that way later in the fall. I would go to more dances. I would ride more merry-go-rounds. I would pick more daisies.   —Nadine Stair

Dance

Friendship
Oh, the comfort, the inexpressible comfort, of feeling safe with a person, Having neither to weigh thoughts, nor measure words, But pouring them all right out just as they are, chaff and grain together, Certain that a faithful hand will take and sift them, Keep what is worth keeping, And with the breath of kindness, blow the rest away.  —Dinah Maria Mulock Craik

If
If you can keep your head when all about you  Are losing theirs and blaming it on you; If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you, But make allowance for their doubting too: If you can wait and not be tired by waiting, Or being lied about, don't deal in lies, Or being hated don't give way to hating, And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise; If you can dream – and not make dreams your master; If you can think – and not make thoughts your aim, If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster And treat those two imposters just the same: If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools, Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken, And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools; If you can make one heap of all your winnings And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss, And lose, and start again at your beginnings And never breathe a word about your loss: If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew To serve your turn long after they are gone, And so hold on when there is nothing in you Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on!" If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue, Or walk with Kings – nor lose the common touch, If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you, If all men count with you, but none too much: If you can fill the unforgiving minute With sixty seconds' worth of distance run, Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it, And – which is more – you'll be a Man, my son!  —Rudyard Kipling

Irish Blessing
May the road rise up to meet you  May the wind be always at your back  May the sun shine warm upon your face  And the rains fall soft upon your fields  And until we meet again  May God hold you in the palm of his hand.

Legacy of an Adopted Child
Once there were two women  Who never knew each other. One you do not remember  The other you call mother. Two different lives  Shaped to make yours one. One became your guiding star The other became your sun. The first gave you life  The second taught you to live in it. The first gave you a need for love  And the second was there to give it. One gave you a nationality  The other gave you a name. One gave you the seed of talent  The other gave you an aim. One gave you emotions  The other calmed your fears. One saw your first smile  The other dried your tears. One gave you up  It was all that she could do. The other prayed for a child  And was led straight to you. And now you ask me  Through your tears, The age-old question  Through the years: Heredity or environment  Which are you the product of? Neither, my darling, neither, Just two different kinds of love.   Author Unknown

Look To This Day
Look to this day for it is life — the very life of life  In its brief course lie all the realities and truths of existence  the joy of growth  the glory of action  the splendor of beauty. For yesterday is already a memory and tomorrow is only a vision  but today well lived makes every yesterday a memory of happiness and every tomorrow a vision of hope. Look well, therefore, to this day.   Ancient Sanskrit Poem

Love is Patient
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud  It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil, but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.  1 Corinthians 13:4-8

Namasté

Out on a Limb
Why not go out on a limb? That's where the fruit is.    —Will Rogers

Rumi
Open the window in the center of your chest, and let the spirits fly in and out. Excerpt from the poem Where Everything is Music by Jelaluddin Rumi. Translated by Coleman Barks. Used with permission.

Serenity Prayer
God grant me the Serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the Courage to change the things I can and the Wisdom to know the difference.  —Reinhold Niebuhr

Take Time
Take time to work  it is the price of success. Take time to think  it is the source of power. Take time to play  it is the secret of perpetual youth. Take time to read  it is the fountain of wisdom. Take time to be friendly  it is the road to happiness. Take time to dream  it is your highway to the stars. Take time to give  it is too short a day to be selfish. Take time to laugh  it is the music of the heart. Take time to love & be loved  it is nourishment for the soul.   Author Unknown

The Heart
The heart has its reasons which reason cannot know.   —Pascal