From Denny: Presidents' Day comes and goes in a flash. Some years it's wildly popular generating interesting articles and other years, well, no one cares. Seems like this year is one of those off years for interest, especially with the winter Olympics in full swing in Sochi, Russia, garnering so much attention.
Poking around online I found some amusing - and downright weird - facts about the U. S. Presidents you may not know - just when you thought you heard it all. Yeah, trivia kings and queens live at our house.
Poems From A Spiritual Heart: Legacy of Love: From Denny: ... Mentoring others is important no matter what stage you are living in your life. You can be young or old. You can teach the young, those older, those your same age. Teach what you know and share your life experiences. You never know who you will inspire. And, as you teach, you learn from them too. Never feel what you know is not important enough to share. Never be too proud to receive knowledge from others eager to share what they have just learned or figured out. For today's shared knowledge just might answer tomorrow's problems - for them and for you. Mentoring: it's a fair exchange, don't you think? :)
Beautiful Illustrated Quotations: Funny Valentines Day Video: Say I Love You X 100 Languages: From Denny: Enjoy regular people on the street mugging for the camera and saying "I Love You!" in their language. It's a grin fest that will make your day. It's also an ad for memrise.com to visit their site to learn how to say the famous phrase in over 100 languages. Happy Valentine's Day!
*** Never feel what you know is not important enough to share: mentor!
From Denny: This week a famous American teacher passed out of this life and into a new adventure. His name was Jaime Escalante and it was his life story told in the movie "Stand and Deliver." He was well educated and worked at NASA. Yet when he read of the failing schools in Los Angeles he quit his high-paying job and went to teach advanced math at one of those failing schools, Garfield High School. He fought the public school system's failing mindset cemented into the old ways of doing things, believing low income kids were not smart enough or motivated enough to learn advanced math. Escalante proved them all wrong: the educators who ran the schools, the parents and the students.
Escalante brought faith in his students and passion to the job of more than teaching: He was a mentor of gigantic proportions. Today, many of his students are successes, working at NASA or teaching the same calculus to their students that he taught them. Most of all he taught a group of people to believe in themselves. He taught the educators to never give up their faith and reach higher so their students can succeed in life.
Cosmic consciousness by h.koppdelaney @ flickr
Mentoring others is important no matter what stage you are living in your life. You can be young or old. You can teach the young, those older, those your same age. Teach what you know and share your life experiences. You never know who you will inspire. And, as you teach, you learn from them too. Never feel what you know is not important enough to share. Never be too proud to receive knowledge from others eager to share what they have just learned or figured out. For today's shared knowledge just might answer tomorrow's problems - for them and for you. Mentoring: it's a fair exchange, don't you think? :)
Legacy of Love
Have you ever thought about… All the knowledge in the Universe? Have you ever thought about… Your place in millions of information bits? Have you ever thought about… Why your experiences were important?
Did you know that on the other end of that information Lived someone waiting for you to tell them about it? Did you know that in the world every day there is A person sharing what they know with someone else Who yearned for the solutions to their problems but Did not know where to find that knowledge – until you?
The old speak of their long lives while the young listen. The young shout their enthusiasm while the old smile. When tough times strike we all stretch out helping hands. When Life is sweet we lift up our hearts in shared Joy. Kindness and sharing creates more kindness and sharing, Giving comfort and ease to many hearts, lightening the load.
When at first we meet as strangers we become friends. Sharing our experiences we relax into deep friendships. Family we become when we give Love and receive Love. Have you ever seen all the thoughts floating in the Universe Wondering of their origins and how long they were seeking? Sharing what you know is your legacy of Love.
Denny Lyon Copyright 4 April 2010 All Rights Reserved
*** For more poetry about life, spiritual thoughts and society's social issues, please visit The Social Poets! :)
*** THANKS for visiting, feel welcome to drop a comment or opinion, enjoy bookmarking this post on your favorite social site, a big shout out to awesome current subscribers – and if you are new to this blog, please subscribe in a reader or by email updates!
From Denny: Today's quote is an interesting one to ponder and comes from the famous writer, Goethe. He talks about how our talent best develops in calmer times instead of chaos. Isn't it odd how usually it is when in extreme chaos we try to develop our creativity and talent? Then we often wonder why we get so easily frustrated and can't find our balance.
For me, I found that when I'm somewhat stressed that stress actually propels my creativity. When things are too easy we often lose our edge. Goethe did make the observation about it is our talent that best develops during more tranquil times. In that he is referencing how in tranquil times we have more reflective time. More time for reflection and we can analyze how we want to achieve our goals. When times are tranquil it is easier for our minds to be orderly, rested, and, therefore, more receptive to sudden illumination of insight!
His opinion about the long slow development of good character is accurate. How interesting he chose to link both talent and character in the same line as mirror-imaged twins. Can it be that to fully develop our talent we must also focus upon good character? In order to develop good character might we also focus upon nurturing our talent? Perhaps talent and good character are life-long companions, forever linked to the address of excellence high up on the mountain peak of vision.
Quote
Talent develops in tranquility, character in the full current of human life. - Goethe
Photo by Lauren Close @ flickr
Society and Culture, Education, Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Ethics and Morals, Goethe,
From Denny: Here's a tricky one that reads like a "word problem" from high school math class! It reminds me so much of the typical Asian spiritual adept when teaching...
"I tell you everything that is really nothing, and nothing of what is everything, do not be fooled by what I am saying. Please listen carefully and try to hear what I am not saying." ~ Charles C. Finn
From Denny: Continuing along the vein of yesterday's fabulous and mystical quote, this quote can be meditated upon two levels.
You can think of it as a life-long education from all the people with whom you have interacted. You can also think of this on a spiritual level of interaction - that you have absorbed those bits and pieces you have incorporated into your being to make you strong in life!
Man striking stalactite formation with his knuckles to produce musical notes Image via Wikipedia
From Denny: Definitely qualifies as weird but interesting! This photo takes the cake on what you can utilize to make music AND its a natural substance, standing ready to be played. You sure can't buy this musical instrument in any music shop! :) How did this guy ever figure out he could make music from this place?
"Music expresses that which cannot be put into words and that which cannot remain silent." - Victor Hugo
Helen Keller in 1905, activist, lecturer and author - Image via Wikipedia
From Denny: Helen Keller was both a pioneer and blind, deaf and mute in a time long before computers, society's compassion or teachers who understood she was smart but locked inside a body that did not function like everyone else.
It was amazing to read about how Helen grew as a person as her teacher figured her way through the process to reach and educate her. It was a great accomplishment for both student and teacher.
Sign language was just beginning to develop at this time as the educational system was starting to address the needs of the deaf, moving away from writing them off as stupid and unteachable. What Helen learned along the way was deep, thoughtful and inspirational. There are many incredible quotes attributed to Helen Keller.
“Many persons have a wrong idea of what constitutes true happiness. It is not attained through self-gratification but through fidelity to a worthy purpose.” — Helen Keller
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_uSQVThCiOfVDRocKps2lU8oiFllS7ETqc_o-Ty8x_LscvQg_gYQ9G1s03tHVOrU4J0ZBKmZ4c7QKuZPDyoN1QDj-QE7_2A2nunMnDFpLzDIMny0ys21BHhNhypAdS8U7j_g5yjqMK_tw_l-yY8DQA=s0-d)
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_sc42KFMFJTen9HQ9mOfpnNCKPdothdmz8_Chy5tl_EoPv22Em4nKJch4MW8mpwTesCT_Rt8HdW3XUbVGb4ga6_TsrUCll5ckUdONdz0H5ROogzkv3cWMMPmZwAHzz_7mocZykTuHLgsHSf_Sss0str=s0-d)
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_tMbEfWbACMNjgZVJZvFykeApV-Jbwq29LjY5NbIDisnhduDXWYexzezSnoX82D7dxhArVkUONkCkpae2SPR8JDBRgDACWOkfJosFa56H2sPMuPoAnDD__qzvXpMilwvEwAqrkyChhfLsuQLStKq30=s0-d)
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_uOINl_kvmlVVWwUf68fxmgBvXMEeR0O_FMptzskb-d-1KdQu7DwFsyIJr9RzAv-2vJoeNo71XBPbQ9hw9l6K7lXfzL_3yfSWNYx-QTtS6WxZ5_3SARl6GJz58Yw8ai3IZGlXFbEGRXnX_mm5vm0ow=s0-d)
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_ujBasIRVS9dH1-C46hizRSVsC0D0pP9pqWc0YkmXHUb9wsYzOtxDQq48hC4qTrMKdDj4xbE3-Z735Uu3sfBo3WZ5OtNlBtVhtBTP4IIJr73sU83jbBm1o7pJg7j0tISJWWBrPy1vmQrvHAVbGV3DUX=s0-d)
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_vuwbo8Er7dBrEiz5mDqqd-Rah6JpB3HaEXKSwN53JbQTvbI04pI0uOp3kr3UeHGce5ivWtvD-NYm0zHtQmvWxZou97fKQFEUuvv-X5FKr3U8cUA83zdaNpblSI2dm7yW9BZguUVztsl2RBlfrtr1RC=s0-d)
