Catalyst Quotes

“Do Something Extraordinary”

“I had a monumental idea this morning, but I didn’t like it.”   (Samuel Goldwyn)

__________ 

“Anonymous asked:  ‘How are you?’

Answered by Try-to-Stay-Positive:

‘I’m happy, very content, because right now extraordinary things are happening around the world. 

Right now …

A soldier of sorts is diligently fighting the fight so you don’t have to.

A small group of people are building something that will soon make the impossible possible.

A piece of literature is being written that will eventually change your perspective on life.

Young children all over the world are singing and dancing before they even realize there is anything that isn’t music.

A friend is helping a friend rise above thoughts of suicide.

Hundreds of cute elderly couples are celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary.

A baby girl just took her first few steps without falling.

A future world leader is in grade school at recess.

Someone is in the process of sincerely forgiving a seemingly unforgivable act.

There’s a kid studying hard somewhere who aspires to get to where you are in life.

A firefighter is running into a burning building to rescue a perfect stranger.

Someone is taking a shower and singing happily at the top of their lungs.

There is someone out there who smiles when they think of a specific moment they once shared with you.

A young man is pulled over on the side of the road helping a young woman change a flat tire.

Two teenagers just received their very first kiss ever from each other.

A husband and wife who were drowning in debt five years ago proudly hold a balance of zero on their credit cards.

Someone is hugging a friend who desperately needs it.

A grandfather is holding his granddaughter’s hand and they’re both smiling from ear to ear.

A breast cancer patient just found out her cancer is in complete remission.

Someone out there is missing you and looking forward to your next visit.

Someone is holding the door open for the person behind them.

Right now is a new beginning.  Right now is an opportunity.

Do something extraordinary.’”   (Unknown Author)

__________ 

“Every single morning I wake with a bang,’ he said.  ‘It’s as though the fact that I am alive is injected into me; I am a character in a fairy tale, bursting with life.”   (Jostein Gaarder, The Solitaire Mystery)

__________ 

“Friends and partners to celebrate life with, abundance to enhance any adventure, and mountains to perch atop, all arrive when you dwell upon the celebration, the adventure, and the view.  Not names, lotteries, or the path you think wisest.

Because I want you to have them all; yes, you can have whatever you want, anything.  Just don’t confuse what you want with how you’re going to get it.   (signed)   The Universe”   (Notes from the Universe, Mike Dooley, June 24, 2015)

__________ 

“I am the boss of my underpants.  You can be the boss of yours.”   (Ragen Chastain)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

“Acts of Kindness / Their Echoes are Truly Endless”

“Years ago, when I was not yet a teenager, my father nearly died.

… It was early in the morning, but he knew exactly what was happening in his chest and woke my mother to ask her to call an ambulance.  Our telephone was in the living room, but before she could leave their bedroom to use it, he asked for something else.  My father asked that the ambulance not use its siren.

Weeks later, when the fear of death had receded like some strange tide, my mother asked him about the siren.  My father said simply that he worried it would have woken and frightened his three sleeping daughters.  It is true that we were all light sleepers and that our farm was usually blanketed by the polite silence that comes from having no close neighbors, but what impossible kindness there was in my father’s request.

I have called it an act of kindness, which I think it was.  It was considerate in a way I cannot begin to understand; generous in a way no one would expect much less demand.  Years later I still do not comprehend how in what very well might have been the final moments of his life, my father thought to ask for quiet so that his daughters might continue sleeping.

Kindness is not always as heavy as action:  it can be as light as speech or as invisible as inaction. Sometimes the kindest thing we can do is to exercise self-restraint: not posting a nasty comment on an article, leaving a mean-spirited tweet in the draft folder, keeping quiet to listen to whatever unfamiliar or opposing opinion is being offered.

Consider George Saunder’s convocation speech last year at Syracuse University when the celebrated author said clearly, ‘What I regret most in my life are failures of kindness.’”   (Casey N. Cep, ‘Pacific Standard,’ Harvard Business Review, ‘The Short List’ 3.21.14)

______ 

“The best portion of a good man’s life is his little, nameless, unremembered acts of kindness.”   (William Wordsworth)

______ 

“Remember there’s no such thing as a small act of kindness.  Every act creates a ripple with no logical end.”    (Scott Adams, creator of Dilbert Comic Strip)

______ 

“Kind words can be short and easy to speak but their echoes are truly endless.”   (Mother Teresa)

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~