“Never be bullied into silence. Never allow yourself to be made a victim. Accept no one’s definition of your life; define yourself.”

~Harvey Fierstein

“If we could first learn where we are
and where we are going,
we would be better able
to judge what to do and how to do it.”
~Abraham Lincoln

If we don’t change our direction,
we’ll wind up where we are headed.
~Chinese expression

When you educate a boy,
you educate an individual,
but when you educate a girl,
you educate a community.
~African proverb

When Spider Webs Unite They Can Tie Up a Lion
~Ethiopian Proverb

“When I hear somebody sigh, “Life is hard,” I am always tempted to ask, “Compared to what?”
~Sydney Harris

“We create our lives a thought at a time. And sometimes, it comes down to changing a thought such as “Why did this happen to me?” into “There is a divine plan and there is a reason for this, and my choice is to create the most positive reaction I can.”
~Dee Wallace Stone

It is not the strongest of species that survives, nor the most intelligent. It is the one that is the most adaptable to change.
~Charles Darwin

“Disability is not a brave struggle or ‘courage in the face of adversity.’ Disability is an art. It’s an ingenious way to live.”
- Neil Marcus

I was just reading Kay’s blog as I do every so often. And I noticed the quote she has in her header image. I don’t know if it’s a new one or if she’s had it there for a while and I never noticed it before but I really liked it.

This is the quote:

Not only do physically disabled people have experiences which are not available to the able-bodied, they are in a better position to transcend cultural mythologies about the body, because they cannot do things the able-bodied feel they must do in order to be happy, ‘normal,’ and sane….If disabled people were truly heard, an explosion of knowledge of the human body and psyche would take place.

~Susan Wendell,

The Rejected Body: Feminist Philosophical Reflections on Disability

“Most of us miss out on life’s big prizes. The Pulitzer. The Nobel. An Oscar. But we’re all eligible for life’s small pleasures. A pat on the back. A kiss behind the ear. A four-pound bass. A full moon. An empty parking space. A crackling fire. A great meal. A glorious sunset. Hot soup. Cold beer. Don’t fret about cropping life’s grand awards. Enjoy its tiny delights. Know joy.”
–Author Unknown.

I had a tiny delight today and when I saw this quote I knew I should share both it and my experience of Knowing joy as the quote says.

I called a taxi home this morning after my appointment and they sent Pete who drives the wheelchair taxi and has picked me up several times (but I only found out his name today). I didn’t ask for the wheelchair taxi but I was pleased to see it and save transferring. And when he got me home he didn’t have any change. I had a tenner and it was £4.20. So he said he would let it go and said I could pay him next time. How nice is that? No fuss at all and a lot of people would have made a HUGE deal of that. My faith in people took a little battering early this morning but then that restored it and life is good.

Oh and because of the nature of my appt I made more of an effort when I got ready this morning and I feel all pretty today!

I was looking for a quote about hope to share tonight because I feel very full of hope about my future and how things seem to be panning out of me at this present moment in time. I really do have a huge sense of peace and wellbeing and I realise looking at just how well I have handled things I expected to be difficult just how much of a role hope has played in this. The knowledge that everything will be ok and the hope that this belief is true I mean.

Well, this isn’t exactly a quote but I think it does express exactly what I want and need it too.

Four candles slowly burned. The ambiance was soft, one could almost hear them talking…

The first candle said, “I am Peace!” – “The world is full of anger and fighting. Nobody can keep me lit.” Then the flame of Peace went out completely.

he second candle said, “I am Faith!” – “I am no longer indispensable. It doesn’t make sense that I stay lit another moment.” Just then a breeze softly blew of Faith’s flame.

Sadly the third candle began to speak. “I am Love” – “People don’t understand my importance, so they put me aside. People even forget to Love the people nearest to them, I haven’t the strength to stay lit.”

And waiting no longer Love’s flame went out.

Suddenly…. A child entered the room and saw the three unlit candles…

Saying this the child began to cry…

The fourth candle answered “Don’t worry I am Hope!” – “While I am still burning we can still relight the other candles.”

With shinning eyes the child took the candle of Hope and relit the other candles…

The flame of Hope should never go out from your life.

…and with Hope each of us can live a life of Peace, Faith & Love!

~author unknown

If you think about the place I am in my life at the moment, that’s a pretty appropriate piece for me and reading it helped me a lot.

“When you are sorrowful
Look again in your heart
And you shall see that in truth
You are weeping for that
Which has been your delight”

~ Kahlil Gibrain

Sums up what I’ve been trying to say about the death of loved ones and particularly the death of my Gran better than I ever could.

I love when surfing the internet I randomly find somehting that calls out to me and strikes a cord.

“Hope is about choosing to believe this one thing, that love is bigger than anything that anyone can throw at us”
~ Anne Lamott

How powerful is that Quote?! And how appropriate for now.

Love is more powerful than anything else. Everything I (and the rest of my Gran’s loved ones) have been thinking, feeling and doing over the last few weeks is worth it because we had and continue to have the love we shared. The most important and powerful thing there is. And something that makes it all so, so worth it.

I’ve spent the weekend being rather than doing and I’ve enjoyed it. It’s good for my soul I think. I would like to make a promise to myself to do that more often but the trouble then becomes that it is something I’ve committed to doing and if I don’t do it, I let myself down. I have enough anger with myself and thoughts of failing myself; I need soul food not to give myself more negative thoughts… and if a promise to myself to allow myself more soul food turns it into the very thing I need it to escape from/avoid then whats the point? There is no point.

Life is complicated
Life is hard
Life isn’t what we expected it to be.
Life isn’t what we want.
Life is all we’re going to get
Life is Life
LIVE IT!

People say to me that they wish there were as strong/brave/whatever as I am for living life with CP. Or they say to me that I don’t have to do what I do, they don’t know how I do it. Even… They couldn’t do it if they were me.

Well, what else am I going to do? I have always had and will always have CP. Life is not a dress rehearsal and I do not want to wake up one day and find myself on my deathbed with the sinking realisation that I did nothing in my life, just let it pass me by because I have CP and I don’t have to do it.

All I do is live.