Very meaningful to me are the beautiful words that open an aria from the opera "Myths and Hymns", by that great composer/poet, Adam Guettel: "Shining in the eyes of every child, and in the flame of dawn re-flected on the open sea..in every fury and every love, you are awaiting me…"  As you may already know, this a song about WANTING to believe, but remaining conflicted about one’s spirituality.

The name of this noetically sophisticated musical creation is "Awaiting You."  I can honestly say that at least some phrases of it are part of my daily meditation.

"Myths and Hymns" is available on CD.

Peace to all.  Frederica Winter

And in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make.

The Beatles 

To be nobody-but-yourself in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make you everybody else, means to fight the hardest battle which any human can fight and never stop fighting.

ee.cummings 

Hello to all … I am a "newbie" to this site but am enjoying spending time with people of like minds … thanks for inviting me in ; -)

Here is one of my favorite quotes … alas I do not know its origin.

"Normal day, let me be aware of the treasure you are …

Let me not pass you by in quest of some rare and perfect tomorrow.

One day I shall dig my mails into the earth,

or bury my face in my pillow,

or stretch myself taught,

or raise my hands to the sky and want,

more than all the world, your return."

And one more favorite …

"The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightening and a firefly."

Eons ago there was an outstanding author named Mary Webb, and she wrote a book called Precious Bane which altered me, but it must be 66 years since I read her Gone To Earth, which blew me away.  At the end, oh, I keep hearing it:  I think her name was Hazel, and like the fox, she had "gone to earth," as that cry echoed in the air across the fields.  Gone to earth, gone to earth!

I still hear it in my ears.  And I never did hear it:  I read it!

Not sure what her name was. 

"witholding forgiveness is like refusing to pull a thorn from your foot because you did not put it there"

 "A day, an hour, of virtuous liberty
Is worth a whole eternity in bondage. " Cato. Act ii. Sc. 1.

Sometimes we find out this one the hard way!!!

"Problems arise in that one has to find a balance between what people need from you and what you need for yourself."

                                      - Jessye Norman

Joan — Your quote is so appropriate for today when we are all being pulled in so many different directions.  So, perhaps it should be followed up with…."Time waits for no man".  When you are young it seems "time" if just a thought.   As I age I think about that quote more frequently.  We only go around once.  If there is something you have been waiting to do — do it now. 

As I teach my "golden years" class, I so often hear some of my participants say, "I always wanted to do that".  My answer to them is "make today your always".  You’ll never get it back.   Do it for yourself. 

If you don’t mind, I have used you in some of my talks - about your travels, your wonderful lust for life.  To me there is no finer example!   

Ladies of wowowow - this has been, without a doubt, the most incredible thread you have presented.  Do you see the warmth expressed - do you see the outpouring of the human mind and heart. 

Please, oh please, have more articles like this one — you have indeed made all of us "one". 

In grade school I read:

But soft, what light thru yonder window breaks?

It is the east! And Juliet is the sun!

Arise, fair sun, and kill the envious moon

Who is already sick and pale with grief

That thou, the sun, art far more fair than she.

And I’ve never forgotten it.