Eight Best Things

All the adversity I’ve had in my life, all my troubles and obstacles, have strengthened me….  You may not realize it when it happens, but a kick in the teeth may be the best thing in the world for you.
—     Walt Disney
Fall seven times, stand up eight.
—     Japanese proverb
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On This Day In:
2022	A Little Epiphany
2021	Clear Global Standards
	A Girl Like You
2020	Life’s Mysteries
2019	I Doubt I Ever Will
2018	Who Will Thank (If Not Remember) Me
2017	Reinforced Learning
2016	I Choose To Believe
2015	What They Don’t Teach You At School
2014	Still Trying To Die (5)
2013	Honest Doubt
2012	Choice
2011	Ownership Of Thought

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Thinking About My Sister

We could never learn to be brave and patient if there were only joy in the world.
—     Helen Keller
Patience and passage of time do more than strength and fury.
—     Jean de la Fontaine
Life isn’t about finding yourself.  Life is about creating yourself.
—     George Bernard Shaw
[Happy Birthday, Sis!!       —    kmab]
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On This Day In:
2022	Dust Under Your Fingertips
2021	Stopped Counting Decades Ago
	Just Enjoying The Sun
2020	To My Idealistic Sister
2019	Respect For My Sister
2018	I Trust Cows
	No Boundary
2017	Don’t Sink Now
2016	A Burning Passion To Teach Freedom
2015	Before Debit (And Credit) Cards
2014	Herding Cats
2013	Ooops!
2012	Understand A Great Truth
2011	Start Here…
2010	Random Acts of Vandalism On Easter Weekend…

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Actually, It’s The Other Way Around

With courage you will dare to take risks, have the strength to be compassionate, and the wisdom to be humble.  Courage is the foundation of integrity.
—     Mark Twain
[I believe integrity is the foundation of courage.    —    kmab]
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On This Day In:
2022	If That’s What You Mean
2021	Awakening The Glow
	I Remember
2020	Golden Eagle
	Like #45: Incompetent Donald
2019	#45: Who Lost By Three Million Votes
2018	Torn Between Two Loves
	A Girl And A Boy
2017	I Think They Are Starting To…
2016	Living There
2015	Bookin’ West
	Beyond My Reach
	You Never Call Anymore…
2014	Winning?
2013	Still Inventing
2012	Motivated
2011	Waiting In Line At Starbuck’s

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Strength, Wisdom, Deserving

May our adversities make us strong.  May our victories make us wise.  May our actions make us proud.
—    H. Jackson Brown, Jr.
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On This Day In:
2022	One Link In The Chain
2021	Life Measures
	First Thing Every Morning
2020	Like #45 And Many Of His Supporters
(Leap Year 29th)	With Some Epic Scenery Along The Way
2019	Creative Prayer Time
	ADF: Day 9:5
2018	#DumbDonald: Start With Hearing What You Don’t Want Said
2017	The Press Is NOT The Enemy
2016	It Ain’t Easy
(Leap Year 29th)	Or Try To, Anyway…
(Leap Year 29th)	Circles Within Circles
2015	A Series Of Funerals
2014	And Your Point Is?
2013	Infinitely Care
2012	In My Room
(Leap Year 29th)	Stingray – TV Series Review  (This is my most popular post since starting my blog – hands down!  It still draws hits almost every week.  The hits seem to come mostly from Central Europe.  I guess the show must be in syndication there.  //  2020 update:  While this is still my all-time, most popular post, it is no longer being viewed every week – or even every month.  I guess the show is no longer in syndication.)
(Leap Year 29th)	A Single Thread
2011	Lyrical Mixture
	Teaching = Translating

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Standing Strength

Stand up to your obstacles and do something about them.  You will find that they haven’t half the strength you think they have.
—     Norman Vincent Peale
Strength and growth come only through continuous effort and struggle.
—     Napoleon Hill
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On This Day In:
2022	Overbooked
2021	One Month In: Learning To Play Guitar
	Cause The Melody Keeps Haunting Me
2020	Working On My 2019 Tax Returns
2019	Three Beliefs
2018	He Found Them On-Line
2017	Maybe In A Future World
2016	Largely A Mystery
2015	Tools And Weapons
2014	Likes And Dislikes
2013	Pillars Of Learning
2012	Another JCoM Review
	Move It
2011	Expected Value

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But Am I Strong Or Is There No Special Hurry?

If people bring so much courage to this world the world has to kill them to break them, so of course it kills them.  The world breaks every one and afterward many are strong at the broken places.  But those that will not break it kills.  It kills the very good and the very gentle and the very brave impartially.  If you are none of these you can be sure it will kill you too but there will be no special hurry.
—    Ernest Hemingway
From his novel: “A Farewell to Arms“
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On This Day In:
2022	Looking For Treasure Troves
2021	True Originality
	There Must Be Peace And Understanding
2020	#45: Lies And Hate-Speech Are Not Moral Leadership
2019	Be Brave
2018	What Else Matters?
2017	Slow Go
2016	A Tiny Ripple Of Hope
2015	Liberating Books
2014	Discover God
2013	Without Witness
2012	Nutritarian

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Streaming Life

In the confrontation between the stream and the rock, the stream always wins, not through strength but by perseverance.
—    H. Jackson Brown, Jr.
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On This Day In:
2021	If You Do Nothing About Climate Change
	Standing By
2020	Each Over All
	Rollin’ Along
2019	And Integrity For Today’s Elected Republicans
2018	A Faulty Start, Too
	Honorable Resignation And Syria
2017	Beneath The Tree Of Wisdom
	The Republican Rape Of The American Middle Class
2016	Something Authentic Happened
2015	Back On The Bricks
	On, Rocinante!!
2014	Changing Frequently
2013	Trifles
2012	Simple, Ordinary And Wonderous
2011	Humane Writers

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Exaggerating, Imagining, Anticipating

There are more things, Lucilius, likely to frighten us than there are to crush us;  we suffer more often in imagination than in reality.  What I advise you to do is, not to be unhappy before the crisis comes.  Accordingly, some things torment us more than they ought;  some torment us before they ought;  and some torment us when they ought not to torment us at all.  We are in the habit of exaggerating, or imagining, or anticipating, sorrow.  We shall consider later whether these evils derive their power from their own strength, or from our own weakness.
—     Lucius Annaeus Seneca
Known as:  Seneca the Younger
From:  “On Groundless Fear” (Letter 13 of the “Moral Letters to Lucilius“)
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On This Day In:
2021	Creation Without Reservation
	From The Tiniest Embers
2020	Listening To The Trees
	Your Mind’s Made Up?
2019	In Silence
	Not Much Light Here
2018	A Gift
2017	Unless You Genuinely Are Small
2016	B1
2015	Five Things
2014	Have Faith
2013	Found In A Mine
2012	Two-Sided Coin
2011	Passionately Scorned Rules

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Somebody Should Have Warned Putin About Ukraine

He who licks knives will soon cut his tongue.
—     Ukrainian proverb
We don’t even know how strong we are until we are forced to bring that hidden strength forward.
—     Isabel Allende
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On This Day In:
2022	Somebody Should Have Warned Putin About Ukraine
2021	No Plan And Less Sand
	It Might Sound Strange
2020	Why #45 Is In The Dark
	180 Day Health / Weight Update (Mar 2020)
2019	Tonight I Am All Blacks
	In All Its Messy Complexity
2018	Danger = Opportunity
2017	True And Great
	Sand At The Beach
2016	There Is A Difference Between Dangerous And Frightening
2015	Always A Goal
2014	Standing Strong
2013	Shaken And Stirred
	The Bird With The Broken Wing
2012	Friends In High Places
2011	Objective Independence

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Prayers For Ukraine

Great works are performed not by strength, but by perseverance.
—    Samuel Johnson
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On This Day In:
2022	Prayers For Ukraine
2021	Be Your Own Hero
	Another Frog King
2020	Still Trying To…
2019	Press Freedom
2018	Or Loyalty To An Unqualified And Incompetent President
2017	A Bad Sale
2016	Be Happy!
2015	Are You Feeling Cold?
2014	Never Asked
2013	In Praise Of Change
2012	John Carter Of Mars
	Circular
2011	How Much And When

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First Ask For Courage

If you are not strong, ask for troubles to make you so.
—    Leo Tolstoy
[Which reminds me of:
The Para’s Prayer
Give me, God, what you still have, Give me what no one asks for; I do not ask for wealth Nor for success, nor even health — People ask you so often, God, for all that That you cannot have any left. Give me, God, what you still have; Give me what people refuse to accept from you. I want insecurity and disquietude, I want turmoil and brawl, And if you should give them to me, my God, Once and for all Let me be sure to have them always, For I will not always have the courage To ask you for them.      –    Attributed to André Zirnheld [Aspirant (Second Lieutenant) André Zirnheld was the first Free French SAS officer to fall in Libya in a gun jeep raid on Nazi airfields deep behind enemy lines on July 27, 1942.  Hurriedly buried in a desert sand dune;  his friends found in his officer’s note book a prayer (above) he had written in Tunis in 1938.]
I carried a hand-written copy of this in my wallet for years…    —    kmab]
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On This Day In:
2021	First Ask For Courage
	Shadows And Darkness
2020	My 2 Cents
	You Do It
	Must Be Why I Like Dreamin’
2019	The Opening Step
	Day 17/18: That Didn’t Take Long
2018	I’ll Trade You…
2017	Luv Me Some Meat Loaf
2016	Unless Your Name Is #AmnestyDon
2015	A Tentative First Step
2014	Making People
2013	On Reading Books
2012	On America
2011	Shiver, Me Timbers!
2010	Fiduciary Breakdown

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You Really Are

You’re braver than you believe, stronger than you seem and smarter than you think.
—    Christopher Robin
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On This Day In:
2021	You Really Are
	What You Want
2020	So Far The Only Burden Shifted Has Been The Cost
	Rockin’ The Hammond
2019	The Powers Of Mind
	Day 10: Into Double Digits
2018	Up For Progress
	Day 1.5: Done (For Now)
2017	And Second By Second
2016	Bakeries And Coffee Shops
2015	Spirit Not Form
2014	Sometimes Even Kneeling Seems Insufficient
2013	Hobgoblins
2012	Got Sleep?
2011	Not Another Barren Corner

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Born Again

The terrorists thought they would change my aims and stop my ambitions, but nothing changed in my life except this:  weakness, fear and hopelessness died.  Strength, power and courage were born.
—     Malala Yousafzai
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On This Day In:
2020	Nah… I’m Still Chuckling
	Squeaking By With “C’s”
2019	Consider Me A Phony
2018	Last
	Day 10: Double Digits
2017	Could You Repeat The Question?
2016	Still Busy?
2015	Why, Just This Morning…
2014	Just Kindness
2013	Now Shaking
2012	Absurdity, n.
2011	Minor Changes
	Things I’ve Learned From Life – Nana Carter
	Acting Out

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Choose Strength

You never know how strong you are, until being strong is your only choice.
—    Bob Marley
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On This Day In:
2020	No Fear
2019	Propaganda vs. Art
2018	What Did You Bring Up?
2017	Waiting For My First Strike
2016	Mostly Just Masticating
2015	Don’t Mess With Mosa
	How Long Is This Run?
2014	The Importance Of Being Forgetful
2013	Anyway
2012	Habit Forming
2011	And In The Other Hand(ful)
	In Love With Words
	Boundless Naïveté
	Who Did You Say Signed Off On This Treason, Pat?

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Core Strength

The turning point in the process of growing up is when you discover the core of strength within you that survives all hurt.
—    Max Lerner
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On This Day In:
2022	Widening The Moat
2021	Core Strength
	Thinking Of You
2020	Rising Danger
	210 Day Health / Weight Update (Apr 2020)
2019	Never Let ‘Em See You Sweat
2018	Just Two?
2017	Living Without Love
	Good News!
2016	At This Moment
2015	Still Dreaming
2014	Good Wins
2013	Before
2012	Look To This Day
2011	One View Of Man

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