my mantra.

"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.
"Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.
"It is our light, not our darkness, that frightens us.
"We ask ourselves, 'Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous?'
"Actually, who are you not to be?
"You are a child of God.
"Your playing small doesn't serve the world.
"There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you.
"We were born to make manifest the glory of God within us.
"It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone.
"And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people the permission to do the same.
"As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others."
~~~~from South African President Nelson Mandela's 1994 inaugural speech.

The yin and yang represent all the opposite principles one finds in the universe. Under yang are the principles of maleness, the sun, creation, heat, light, Heaven, dominance, and so on, and under yin are the principles of femaleness, the moon, completion, cold, darkness, material forms, submission, and so on. Each of these opposites produce the other: Heaven creates the ideas of things under yang, the earth produces their material forms under yin, and vice versa; creation occurs under the principle of yang, the completion of the created thing occurs under yin, and vice versa, and so on. This production of yin from yang and yang from yin occurs cyclically and constantly, so that no one principle continually dominates the other or determines the other. All opposites that one experiences—health and sickness, wealth and poverty, power and submission—can be explained in reference to the temporary dominance of one principle over the other. Since no one principle dominates eternally, that means that all conditions are subject to change into their opposites.

This cyclical nature of yin and yang, the opposing forces of change in the universe, mean several things. First, that all phenomena change into their opposites in an eternal cycle of reversal. Second, since the one principle produces the other, all phenomena have within them the seeds of their opposite state, that is, sickness has the seeds of health, health contains the seeds of sickness, wealth contains the seeds of poverty, etc. Third, even though an opposite may not be seen to be present, since one principle produces the other, no phenomenon is completely devoid of its opposite state.

TORI AMOS

"Spark"

She's addicted to nicotine patches
She's addicted to nicotine patches
She's afraid of the light in the dark
6:58 are you sure where my spark is
Here
Here
Here

She's convinced she could hold back a glacier
But she couldn't keep Baby alive
Doubting if there's a woman in there somewhere
Here

You say you don't want it again
And again but you don't really mean it
You say you don't want it
This circus we're in
But you don't you don't really mean it
You don't really mean it
if the Divine master plan is perfection
Maybe next I'll give Judas a try
Trusting my soul to the ice cream assassin
Here

You say you don't want it again
And again but you don't really mean it
You say you don't want it
This cirucs we're in
But you don't you don't really mean it
You don't really mean it
How may fates turn around in the overtime
Ballerinas that have fins that you'll never find
You thought that you were the bomb yeah
Well so did I
Say you don't want it
Say you don't want it
Say you don't want it again
And again but you don't really mean it
Say you don't want it
This circus we're in
But you don't you don't really mean it
You don't really mean it

She's addicted to nicotine patches
She's afraid of the light in the dark
6:58 are you sure where my spark is
Here

Let us rise up and be thankful,
for if we didn't learn a lot today,
at least we learned a little,
and if we didn't learn a little,
at least we didn't get sick,
and if we got sick,
at least we didn't die;
so, let us be thankful.
- The Buddha -

(thanks to Levi for bringing this to my attention)

LovethisLife...
is about celebrating the moment
and that we're not guaranteed or owed another day
and how cool it is that what we hide
can actually be the fuel towards our glory
and that it's not so bad being proven wrong

LovethisLife...
is about welcoming the blind turn
and the possibility that
there's no such thing as coincidence
and that empathy is incredibly sexy
and that it's never too late to
pick up a guitar or a paintbrush
or to make an amend or to make a new friend

LovethisLife...
could be about rekindling a past flame
or igniting a new one
or shapeshifting from a dreamer into a doer
or savouring the caress of a love long gone

LovethisLife...
means whatever it is you want it to mean because

LovethisLife...
is a celebration of you and your path

LovethisLife...
'cuz it could go at any second

you rock.


lovethislife manifesto
copyright 2002, david culiner