When I was younger, I used to have this notebook in which I jotted down some of my favorite quotes, sayings and articles that I came across first hand or through friends. It used to be a powerful tool to me back then. If I had a particularly rough day or was struggling with a situation that I couldn't grapple with, I would take comfort in the words hidden in those pages. I would fervently skim through the collection to pick some quotes to include in letters to my pen friends. I would eagerly look forward to the monthly edition of Wisdom (or was it fortnightly, my memory fails me) or the Readers Digest that my dad bought from the old book shops. I remember paying close attention to every word that came out of my very eloquent high school English teacher, so that I could put some of the pearls of wisdom in that notebook. If a friend visited me, I would show it off as my most treasured possession.

Today, when I dusted the notebook and swiftly turned the pages and glanced through the faded handwriting, I re-discovered the strength and inspiration that I drew from these words not so long ago.
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One of the sayings that my very eloquent English teacher often told in the class was on age. He would often say, "For some, wisdom comes with age, and for others, age alone comes",  to  a class that roared with laughter. Even after more than a decade, this saying keeps playing in my brain on and off . I was mulling over this topic last night as I was slurping the Thai take out we had ordered. In my mind I feared that I will get older without becoming any wiser. That I will not learn from my mistakes. That I will not act with a better sense of maturity. So on and so forth. After a while, the mood lightened and I forgot all about it. Once dinner was over, we reached out for our share of fortune cookies, eager to read what "fortune" was in store for us. (Reminds me of the "fortune" that the weighing scales at the railway stations used to predict back home).  Want to take a guess on what mine read? "It is better to be happy than wise". Hehehehe.... I think the universe is trying to tell me something - to chill out and not  take myself so seriously!
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While I am at the topic of words and sayings, why not quote a favorite phrase that I came across through a friend a few years back. Ever heard of the phrase, Throw your hat over the fence? What this means is, once you throw your hat over the other side of the fence, the only option is to go get it.  (The other option is to leave it, but keeping with the spirit of the post I am not going there). I may not know how to get that hat, but it doesn't matter, because once I make a beginning I will figure a way out along the way. It doesn't matter what deficiencies I have because I will learn to overcome them as I get closer to the hat. I love the wild optimism in this phrase. It tells us to blindly believe in ourselves and to just go reach out for our dreams.

Take up one idea. Make that one idea your life - think of it, dream of it, live on that idea. Let the brain, muscles, nerves, every part of your body, be full of that idea, and just leave every other idea alone. This is the way to success, that is way great spiritual giants are produced.

If you think about disaster, you will get it. Brood about death and you hasten your demise. Think positively and masterfully, with confidence and faith, and life becomes more secure, more fraught with action, richer in achievement and experience.

Our duty is to encourage every one in his struggle to live up to his own highest idea, and strive at the same time to make the ideal as near as possible to the Truth.

It is our own mental attitude which makes the world what it is for us. Our thought make things beautiful, our thoughts make things ugly. The whole world is in our own minds. Learn to see things in the proper light. First, believe in this world, that

Where can we go to find God if we cannot see Him in our own hearts and in every living being.

Courtsey:  Lokvani's newsletter