What Is Happiness?

Your Holiness, are you a happy man?

"I cannot answer that question without making sure that we understand the word "happiness" in the same way. If you are talking about a continuous state of mind, a permanent interior disposition where there is no regret, no suffering, no feeling of dissatisfaction, that state is foreign to me. But I believe that the state of mind is simply not human. In human life, happiness is a victory: the overcoming of doubt, despair, temptation. If this is how you understand happiness, then yes, I am happy!"

His Holiness Karekin I (1932-1999)

Who Are The Saints?

I reading a book called "Between Heaven and Earth", which is a convestation with His Holiness Karekin I, my all time favorite Armenian pop. In there the journalist asks him who does he think is a Saint? He said, "The saints, to me. are the interprestation of Chirstian fath in the context of lived, human life," and then recalls these two quotes:

"I cannot respect pure and saintly hands that have always been protected by gloves. I prefer hands that have remained pure in mud."

~ Daniel-Rops

"In our times. the path to sainthood passes necessarily through the world of action"

~Dag Hammarkold

Not "If", But "when"

Most people are familiar with world-famous boxer, Muhammad Ali and his renowned trainer, Angelo Dundee. But many people don’t know that just before every boxing match, Dundee would write a number on a small slip of paper and place it inside Ali’s glove. That may sound like a strange thing to give a boxer right before a fight, but Dundee had a reason for what he did. The number that Dundee would write on that slip of paper was the number of the round in which he predicted that Ali would knock out his opponent. Dundee was so confident in Ali’s ability that he didn’t consider “if,” he only considered “when”—and Ali knew it!

I love that story because it shows the confidence Ali’s trainer had in him, and it shows the positive effect it had on Muhammad Ali. I believe that confidence played a tremendous part in “the champ’s” amazing success as one of the greatest boxers that ever lived.

Continue reading this in this blog

History In Sand!

Every once in a while I find something worth sharing with you. This video was serendipitous surprise. It's an amazing video which it is Political. Historical. Artistic & Moving. It features Kseniya Simonova, an Ukranian sand artist, and she tells stories through art. Enjoy!

Enjoy this Persian song. I would appreciate if any of my Persian readers can translate it.

Now this is inspiring!

This image provided by NASA this July 23, 2009 is a photo made by the Spitzer Space Telescope of the galaxy, called NGC-1097, is located 50 million light-years away. It is spiral-shaped like our Milky Way, with long, spindly arms of stars. The 'eye' at the center of the galaxy is actually a monstrous black hole surrounded by a ring of stars. In this color-coded infrared view from Spitzer, the area around the invisible black hole is blue and the ring of stars, white. The black hole is huge, about 100 million times the mass of our sun, and is feeding off gas and dust along with the occasional unlucky star. The galaxy's red spiral arms and the swirling spokes seen between the arms show dust heated by newborn stars. Older populations of stars scattered through the galaxy are blue. The fuzzy blue dot to the left, which appears to fit snuggly between the arms, is a companion galaxy. This image was taken during Spitzer's cold mission, before it ran out of liquid coolant. (AP Photo/NASA)

True Nobility

If I was allowed to give only one advise, I would beg people to read anything by Eric Butterworth. His books have been a God sent to me and I often re-read his books have calming effect and extremely transformational and here is one excerpt that I just read that I would like to share with you:

Not that you you can or should become better than another person or even good engouh to fulfill certain wordly standards. This is giving too much power to the world "out there". In the wisdon of the East there is an axiom that says: there is nothing noble about begin superior to some other person. True nobility is being superior to you previous self"

~From Eric Buterworth book, In The Flow Of Life

In the book “Putting the One Minute Manager to Work,”one of the key concepts is this: Don’t Just Do Something—Sit There!

Too often, many of our problems arise from acting before thinking. We confuse activity with productivity. We think, “I’m so busy, I must be accomplishing something!” In reality, we may just be spinning our wheels. Like sitting in a rocking chair, you can expend a lot of energy and create a lot of motion, but you still aren’t going anywhere.

Progress and productivity always require thought! The Bible says:

“A wise man thinks ahead; a fool doesn’t and even brags about it!” (Proverbs 13:16 LB).

“A good man thinks before he speaks” (Proverbs 15:28 LB). “The wise man looks ahead. The fool attempts to fool himself and won’t face facts” (Proverbs 14:8 LB).

“A wise man is cautious and avoids danger; a fool plunges ahead with great confidence” (Proverbs 14:16 LB).

~Borrowed from Rick Warren's newsletter

Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish!

This post is in honor of Steve Jobs, who is back at work after long battle with his illness. Out all other business leaders, he inspires me the most.

Video: Steve Jobs’ Stanford Commencement Address 2005 – Steve talks movingly about life’s journey

source

Time Is Now

This post dedicated to men and women in Iran fighting for liberty and freedom:

This is now. Now is,

all there is. Don't wait for Then;

strike the spark, light the fire.

Sit at the Beloved's table,

feast with gusto, drink your fill

then dance

the way branches

of jasmine and cypress

dance in a spring wind.

The green earth

is your cloth;

tailor your robe

with dignity and grace.

~ Rumi

Claim your energy and you will control your destiny!

"Life is simply a form of energy....to be guided and directed in a person's body by his or her intelligence."

~ Mytle Filmore

Sorry, for a long absence.  We finally moved to own new home after 2 years of remodeling.  I will post some picutres soon.  I went through some tough hurdles but I am back with a  new and refreshed outlook for the future.  Life is good and I am blessed!

Thank you

Thank you for a reader who nominated my blog for "The Best Blog Of The Day".  

Gratitude

Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like

wrapping a present and not giving it.

  

~William Arthur Ward 

"Every man of courage is a man of his word." -Pierre Corneille