My grandfather took me to the fish pond on the farm when I was about seven, and he told me to throw a stone into the water. He told me to watch the circles created by the stone. Then he asked me to think of myself as that stone person.

You may create lots of splashes in your life but the waves that come from those splashes will disturb the peace of all your fellow creatures," he said.

Remember that you are responsible for what you put in your circle and that circle will also touch many other circles. You will need to live in a way that allows the good that comes from your circle to send the peace of that goodness to others. The splash that comes from anger or jealousy will send those feelings to other circles. You are responsible for both.

That was the first time I realized each person creates the inner peace or discord that flows out into the world. We cannot create world peace if we are riddled with inner conflict, hatred, doubt, or anger. We radiate the feelings and thoughts that we hold inside, whether we speak them or not. Whatever is splashing around inside of us is spilling out into the world, creating beauty or discord with all other circles of life.

Thomas Carlyle lived from 1795 until 1881. He was a Scot essayist and historian. During his lifetime he became one of the world's greatest writers. But he was a human and humans make mistakes.

On October 17, 1826, Carlyle married his secretary Jane Welsh. She was an intelligent, attractive and somewhat temperamental daughter of a well-to-do doctor. They had their quarrels and misunderstandings, but still loved each other dearly.

After their marriage, Jane continued to serve as his secretary. After several years of marriage, Jane became ill. Being a hard worker, Carlyle became so absorbed in his writings that he let Jane continue working for several weeks after she became ill.

She had cancer, and it was one of the slow growing kind. Finally, she became confined to her bed. Although Carlyle loved her dearly, he very seldom found time to stay with her long. He was busy with his work.

When Jane died they carried her to the cemetery for the service. The day was a miserable day. It was raining hard and the mud was deep.

Following the funeral Carlyle went back to his home. He was taking it pretty hard. He went up the stairs to Jane's room and sat down in the chair next to her bed. He sat there thinking about how little time he had spent
with her and wishing so much he had a chance to do it differently.

Noticing her diary on a table beside the bed, he picked it up and began to read in it. Suddenly he seemed shocked.. He saw it. There, on one page, she had written a single line. "Yesterday he spent an hour with me and it was like heaven; I love him so."

Something dawned on him that he had not noticed before. He had been too busy to notice that he meant so much to her. He thought of all the times he had gone about his work without thinking about and noticing her. Then Carlyle turned the page in the diary. There he noticed written some words that broke his heart. "I have listened all day to hear his steps in the hall, but now it is late and I guess he won't come today."

Carlyle read a little more in the book. Then he threw it down and ran out of the house. Some of his friends found him at the grave, his face buried in the mud. His eyes were red from weeping. Tears continued to roll down his cheeks. He kept repeating over and over again, "If I had only known, if I had only known." But it was too late for Carlyle. She was dead. 

After Jane's death, Carlyle made little attempt to write again. The historian said he lived another 15 years, "weary, bored and a partial recluse."

Time to Love
Author Unknown

Never welcome something you cannot entertain.
Never open your doors if you mean to close your heart.
Never accept love if you can't give yourself in return.
Never start a relationship you know you want to end.
Two of the shortest words in the English language are "YES" and "NO"
and yet they are often the ones that require the most thought before they are said.

Some thoughts are better left unsaid,
some feelings are better left kept to yourself,
but love has its way of expressing itself despite the silence.

Always say you are sorry to people you have wronged.
Remember, it is not always what you say that hurts,
but the words that you don't.

Never abandon an old friend.
You will never find one who can take his place.

Friendship is like wine, it gets better as it grows older.
God didn't promise days without pain, laughter without sorrow, sun without rain, but,
He did promise strength for the day, comfort for the tears, and light for the way.

Disappointments are like road humps,
they slow you down a bit but you enjoy the smooth road afterwards.
Don't stay on the humps too long. Move on!

When you feel down because you didn't get what you want,
just sit tight and be happy,
because God is thinking of something better to give you.
When something happens to you, good or bad, consider what it means.

There's a purpose to life's events,
to teach you how to laugh more or not to cry too hard.
You can't make someone love you,
all you can do is be someone who can be loved,
the rest is up to the person to realize your worth.

Life is a coin.
You can spend it any way you wish, but you can spend it only once.

Five rules to be happy.
1. Free your heart from hatred.
2. Free your mind from worries.
3. Live simply.
4. Give more.
5. Expect less.

What the heart gives away is never gone........
It is kept in the hearts of others.
Remember that great love and great achievements involve great risks.
Secure a special place in your heart.
A certain place only you can enter.
For there will come a time when you need to find yourself
and only your heart will show you the way.

The measure of love is when you love without measure.
In life there are very rare chances that you'll meet the person you love
and loves you in return.
So once you have it don't ever let go,
the chance might never come your way again.
People are made to be loved and things are made to be used.
That's why there's so much chaos in the world........
people are being used and things are being loved.

You cannot finish a book without closing its chapters.
If you want to go on, then you have to leave the past as you turn the pages of life.
Every commitment is a choice.
Non-choosers and half-choosers are a puzzle to themselves and to others.
They live in the immature condition of wanting to "play everything by ear."

Every once in a while ask yourself the question:
If money weren't a consideration, what would I like to be doing?

It's better to lose your pride to the one you love,
than to lose the one you love because of pride.
We spend so much time looking for the right person to love
or finding fault with those we already love,
when instead we should be perfecting the love we give.

When you truly care for someone, you don't look for faults,
you don't look for answers, you don't look for mistakes.
Instead, you fight the mistakes, you accept the faults, and you overlook excuses.

1. It's so funny how we set qualifications for the right person to love, while at the back of our minds we know that the person we truly love will always be an exception...

2. There would come a time when we have to stop loving someone not because that person started hating us but because we found out that they'd be happier if we let them go... 

3. You will know when you really love someone when you want him to be happy even if their happiness means you are not a part of it... 

4. If someone comes into your life and becomes a part of you but for some reasons he couldn't stay, don't cry too much... just be glad that your paths crossed and somehow he made you happy even for a while... 

5. There are some things that we never want to let go of... people we never want to leave behind; but keep in mind that letting go is not the end of the world, but rather it is the beginning of a new life...

6. Just because someone doesn't love you the way you want him or her to, doesn't mean they don't love you with all he or she have... 

7. Remember that the best relationship is when your love for each other is greater than your need for each other.

8. Two tear drops were floating down the river. One teardrop said to the other, "I'm the teardrop of a girl who loved a man and lost him. Who are you?" " ... I'm the teardrop of the man who regret letting a girl go..."

9. You'll know that you miss someone very much when every time you think of that person, your heart breaks into pieces and just a quick "Hello" from that person can bring the broken pieces back.... 

10. When you love someone, draw a circle around their name instead of a heart because hearts can be broken but circles never end.

11. Just a thought: What would you do if the only person who could make you stop crying is the person who makes you cry?

12. "Every step I took since the moment I could walk was a step towards finding you." You don't want to let go; but it's even more painful to ask someone to stay if you can never make the relationship work out the way it should be. 

13. LOVE? it's kind of complicated, but I'll tell you This... the second you're willing to make yourself miserable to make someone else happy, that's love right.

14. If I had the letters "HRT", I can add "EA" to get a "HEART" or a "U" and let "HURT". But I'd rather choose "U" and get "HURT than have a "HEART" without U"...

15. Giving someone all your love is not an assurance that he will love you back. Don't expect love in return, wait for it to grow in his heart, if it doesn't, be contented it grows in you.

16. It takes a minute to have a crush on someone, an hour to like someone, and a day to fall in love with someone but it takes a lifetime to really forget someone you have grown to love.

I once told a man a lie.
He responded by telling me this.
All of the decisions that he made were based upon the words that I spoke.
I have long since told the truth.

I once became upset over a gift I received, because it wasn't what I wanted.
The giver saw the disappointment in my eyes and told me this.
He chose the most valuable gift he could find, because he felt I should have it.
I am since very joyful over each gift that I receive.

A man once told me a secret which I quietly whispered in another friend's ear.
The man told me this, after hearing his own secret repeated.
The reason he told me the secret was because he trusted me, not my friend.
I no longer take trust so lightly.

I once gave a gift to a friend and she cried.
I told her it was just a small gift I had found.
Her response was that it was not the gift, it was that I had thought of her.
I now give gifts often.

The shiny coin was not to be mine, so I had been told.
But on my way out the door, it found it's way in my hand.
When it was discovered that I had stolen the coin, I was quietly taken aside.
The owner of the coin told me this.
Integrity is given with a choice.
I have since chosen to stand with integrity.

I AM THE CENTRE OF MY UNIVERSE but I do not live here alone.
Each move I make creates a ripple in someone else's ocean.
Each breath I take affects the air all around me.
Each word I utter falls on someone else's ears.
That which I touch is felt by another
That which I do will certainly affect another
That which I do not, will also affect another

We never know how far reaching something we say or do really is until it returns to us ... and it always does.

ALL THINGS IN LIFE FORM A CIRCLE whether we see the circle or not.

Once upon a time, there was a very strong woodcutter. He asked for a job from a timber merchant, and he got it. The pay was really good and so were the work conditions. For that reason, the woodcutter was determined to do his best.

His boss gave him an axe and showed him the area where he was supposed to work. The first day, the woodcutter brought down 18 trees. The Boss was very much impressed and said, "Congratulations, Go on that way!" Very motivated by the boss' words, the woodcutter tried harder the next day, but he only could bring down 15 trees. The third day he tried even harder, but he only could bring down 10 trees. Day after day he was bringing down less and less trees.

"I must be losing my strength", the woodcutter thought to himself. He went to the boss and apologized, saying that he could not understand what was going on. "When was the last time you sharpened your axe?" the boss asked. 

"Sharpen? I had no time to sharpen my axe. I have been very busy trying to cut trees. 

Our lives are like that. We sometimes get so busy that we don't take time to sharpen the axe. "In today's world, it seems that everyone is busier than ever, but less happy than ever. Why is that? Could it be that we have forgotten how to stay sharp?

There's nothing wrong with activity and hard work. But we should not get so busy that we neglect the truly important things in life, like our personal life, taking time to read etc. We all need time to relax, to think and meditate, to learn and grow. If we don't take time to sharpen the axe, we will become dull and lose our effectiveness. So start from today, think about the ways by which you could do your job more effectively and add a lot of value to it.