What makes a human great?  What is the difference between a Da Vinci, a Beethoven, a Van Gough and you?  Absolutely nothing!  Each of you possesses a fire, passion and a drive that, once ignited, has the ability to change the world.  The only thing holding it back is you knowing that it can be done.  Let that inspirational force move you to create beauty and joy in your life and the lives of others.  It may not be what is called a ‘master work’ by the masses, but it will be beautiful and unique because you made it.  Remember….your very own Ode To Joy awaits! ~ Creator

• Everyone should consider his body as a priceless gift from one whom he loves above all, a marvelous work of art, of indescribable beauty, and mystery beyond human conception, and so delicate that a word, a breath, a look, nay, a thought may injure it.
• Of all the frictional resistances, the one that most retards human movement is ignorance, what Buddha called ‘the greatest evil in the world.’ The friction which results from ignorance can be reduced only by the spread of knowledge and the unification of the heterogeneous elements of humanity. No effort could be better spent. 
• …instinct is something which transcends knowledge. We have, undoubtedly, certain finer fibers that enable us to perceive truths when logical deduction, or any other willful effort of the brain, is futile.
• The gift of mental power comes from God, Divine Being, and if we concentrate our minds on that truth, we become in tune with this great power.
• Our virtues and our failings are inseparable, like force and matter. When they separate, man is no more.
• Our senses enable us to perceive only a minute portion of the outside world. Our hearing extends to a small distance. Our sight is impeded by intervening bodies and shadows. To know each other we must reach beyond the sphere of our sense perceptions.

Confidence will take you a long way in this world. You don’t get to be the manager of your store, the president of the United States, or anything in between without a little bit of confidence. Instead of telling you about all the things you need to do to be more confident, we’ll talk about the things that highly confident people don’t do.

1. They don’t make any excuses.

What can I say? The confident live up to their mistakes. They don’t blame traffic for being late. They were just late. It happens. They know admitting is the first step to improving.

2. They don’t avoid things that scare them.

Face it, the confident don’t fear things they shouldn’t. They don’t let fear dominate their lives. They know what they’re afraid of and challenge it.

You may well be turning a corner in your life, yet some turns take their own sweet time. Sometimes it may feel that you have been turning this corner for a long time, very long time. You may be feeling that you are driving an old car that hasn’t been able to quite make the hill. Sometimes you may feel you are in slow motion or caught on the edge of some kind of unseen precipice. Sometimes you feel futuristic, and that you are in no car at all, just sailing around a corner with nothing holding you as you make the turn as though you are totally on your own.

Of course, it is not true that you are on your own, for you always have Me with you. I am your steering mechanism. In all cases, I am with you, loving you, loving you more than you can absorb. That you feel alone is proof of something missing only in your perception, for I am always firmly in your presence. You may, just may, see Me as fearful rather than merciful.

Merciful is not really a right word for Me, for there is no decision for Me to make. I do not debate. I do not decide. What you call mercy is ever-present. For the word mercy, I substitute love. I declare the one-syllable word love. It is ever with Me.

I do not choose or unchoose mercy as though mercy were an option. There is no option. Love is not an option. Of course, I would choose love, yet I chose it from the beginning. Love in My book was never a choice. Love has always been a given. Love established itself before the beginning. The beginning itself was issued from love.

It seems that we as a society have forgotten some important values, and are generally becoming more immature as a result. There doesn’t seem to be a differentiation between manliness and egocentric chauvinist behavior in a lot of people’s minds, which is truly sad. You have people saying things like 30 is the new 20, and grown men acting like entitled spoiled children. The truth is that once you’ve stepped into your mid-20s you should have gained enough life experience to be able to behave like a mature adult.

The thing is, few young people – and too few older people as well, I’m sad to say – don’t really know what it means to be a mature man. A truly mature man is a strong and confident individual, a diligent provider, passionate and caring lover, brave protector, problem solver, careful listener, a safe port in a storm and a friend you can depend on.

Being a confident individual who knows a thing or two about life, understands that others depend on him and has his priorities straight, a mature man will never exhibit behaviors associated with inexperienced, immature and weak people. Here are the things that mature men don’t do.

1. They don’t let fear keep them from achieving happiness and success...