Forgiveness

"Forgiveness does not change the past, but it does enlarge the future." - Paul Boese

"The decision to forgive touches you to your very core, to who you are as a human being." - Robert Enright

"Forgiving what we cannot forget creates a new way to remember." - Lewis Smedes

Oprah's Lifeclass/ Deepak Chopra: "What Sort of Contribution Do You Want to Make?"

The fourth question Deepak Chopra asks is "what sort of contribution do you want to make?" 



I would like to make financial contributions, whether I am giving money to a homeless person or donating to a political or humanitarian organization. Already, I give a small monthly donation to the American Red Cross, I send money to UNICEF every once in awhile, and I have given money to the Obama compaign. Eventually, I would like to give more. I would like to give back to Loyola University Chicago. If ever I win the lottery (yeah right!), I would give most to charity. I understand I can give to individuals, institutions, and organizations in ways unrelated to money by giving my time and using my skills to serve. I do hope to do this, too, but I would also like to make a greater financial contribution.

I would like to contribute by inspiring people to care, be better, give more. I think the whole world is bleeding, and I want to help individuals heal themselves so the world can be better. I wish I knew how to cure closed-mindedness and intolerance. People can change, so maybe some day I will figure out how I can contribute in this way.

I want to make a contribution that lasts. A contribution that spreads. I hope as people become better versions of themselves (something of which we are all capable) others are encouraged to do the same until the whole world is changed.

"There are years that ask questions and years that answer." - Zora Neale Hurston

"The beginning of change is the moment of doubt." - Doubt, Shanley

Changing Your Mind

"Speak what you think now in hard words, and tomorrow speak what tomorrow thinks in hard words again, though it contradicts everything you said today."

-Emerson, Self-Reliance

I agree. Change can be either good or bad, but not changing, when it contradicts a person's beliefs is always bad. I think. That is how I feel today anyway.