The Garden of Pensiveness

The Complete Essence of Kindness

The Garden of Pensiveness posted a brief poem on its Facebook page by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow that uses a garden metaphor to capture the complete essence of kindness: Kind hearts are the gardens, Kind thoughts are the roots, Kind words are the flowers, Kind deeds are the fruits, Take care of your garden And keep…

Yoga inspiration

Gaining Access to Inspiration

​​Inspiration, that special stimulus that arouses our thinking, feeling and action is necessary before we can accomplish anything worthy of note. In the words of German Poet, Johann Von Herder, “Without inspiration the best powers of the mind remain dormant, they are a fuel in us which needs to be ignited with sparks.” Those sparks,…

Happiness

What Can We Do Right Now to Improve Our Well-Being?

​ Author and human behavior expert, Tom Rath, was asked this question asked by Jennifer Weigel in and article which was posted on chicagotribune.com. In other words, what can we do right now that will immediately improve how we feel about things? His answer was simple: “The single most important thing you can do is to focus on…

Alone

Fascinating Musings About Success

A Take On Success “The Garden of Pensiveness” posted the following Brian Tracy quote on Facebook: “Success is not necessarily determined by material possessions or accomplishments. You can enjoy success simply by reaching the point where you are perfectly content with your life in every respect and you feel no dissatisfaction or pressing need for…

The Meaning of Life

Why Are We Here?

​ A friend of mine made the following insightful post on Facebook: “When we start to question the meaning of life, there is only one viable answer—the role we play in positively impacting the lives of other people. Can I make someone smile? Can I make someone laugh? Can I lesson a burden? Can I…

Wolves

The Two Wolves that are Inside Each of Us (Orig)

A friend of mine found this story on a piece of western art. The lesson is so powerful that I felt compelled to share it with you: “One evening an old Cherokee told his grandson about a battle that goes on inside people. He said, ‘My son, the battle is between two ‘wolves’ inside us…

Wolves

The Two Wolves that are Inside Each of Us

A friend of mine found this story on a piece of western art. The lesson is so powerful that I felt compelled to share it with you: “One evening an old Cherokee told his grandson about a battle that goes on inside people. He said, ‘My son, the battle is between two ‘wolves’ inside us…

We Tend to Underestimate the Power of Our Kind Acts

Recently, I came across the following quote from Mahatma Gandhi: “The simplest acts of kindness are far more powerful than a thousand heads bowed in prayer.” Our acts of kindness can impact other people in a number of ways – sometimes they brighten their day, sometimes they make their day and sometimes they can even…

Relevant

Advice on how to Remain Relevant

​I received a number of insightful comments from subscribers regarding last week’s Reminder about the retired elementary school principal who felt that since she no longer held a position of status, she was no longer relevant. These comments are so good that I feel compelled to share them with you: “Your writing really opened my…