A Beacon of Light

“When you’re smilin’ keep on smilin’. The whole world smiles with you.”  Louis Armstrong On this, the last day of May, we celebrate (believe it or not) National Smile Day in the United States. In one sense, it’s sad that we need to designate a particular day of the year to encourage people to smile…

“The greatest wealth is to live content with little.”  Plato What does it mean to be successful? What does it mean to be happy and fulfilled in life? The messages we receive from the outside world often tell us, in a variety of ways, that we need to have or do one thing or another…

“Once a year, go someplace you’ve never been before.”  Dalai Lama My sister, Cathy, is a world traveler. Due to her status with the airlines (she’s more than just a frequent flyer), she is often treated like royalty — as she should be. After all, she is a queen. Seriously!  Back in the late 1950s,…

“The older I get, the better I was.”  Van Dyke Parks There is a well-known and often-used phrase which crossed my mind yesterday afternoon. Time flies when you’re having fun. I didn’t put these words in quotes, because I was unable to find a reliable source to identify the author of those exact words. What…

“Taiko is the heartbeat of the Japanese people.”  Kodo Taiko is a 12,000-year-old form of Japanese music which highlights the art of drumming. This energetic style of music, which has been used in religious ceremonies and festivals throughout Japanese history, often incorporates dance and athletic movements. Taiko serves as a powerful symbol of community, tradition,…

“We should do this every day of the year, and not just one.”  Beth Pennington Today is a national holiday, a day off from school or work, and traditionally a day for picnics, barbecues, baseball games, and parades. Memorial Day is the unofficial start to the summer season. While all this may be accurate, none…

“Success is no accident.”  Pelé Some call the game football, not to be confused with American football. Others prefer to call it fútbol. I grew up calling it soccer. Whatever one might want to call it, this game is the most popular sport in the world. According to the World Atlas, soccer has 3.5 billion…

“I could never in a hundred summers get tired of this.”  Susan Branch Memorial Day weekend… the unofficial start to summer. I’m ready! Growing up in San Francisco’s Sunset District in the 1960s, the only things we needed for a good summer vacation were warm sunshine and a swimming pool. To enjoy these amenities, we…

“We don’t remember days, we remember moments.”  Cesare Pavese Cesare Pavese was an Italian poet and novelist. While I may disagree with the first part of his statement above — there are certainly many days I do remember — I agree that it is the moments which often provide the most vivid and enduring memories…

“We see the world not as it is, but as we are.”  Stephen R. Covey Optimists seem to recognize the good in the world more often than the bad. Pessimists seem to notice the bad in the world more often than the good. The quote above, by Stephen R. Covey, author of The 7 Habits…