perspective

And here's the surprising truth: As you gaze at yourself in the mirror held by another, you will see far more than your flaws. You also will see the beauty that is uniquely you; beauty that others see clearly and you may hardly know exists. That is also part of the truth about you.

Self-love is crucial for the betterment of our lives and for a higher quality of life.

I laugh at myself. It's so important to laugh at yourself. Have a little heart chuckle, cry a few tears. It's OK! Don't apologize for being you. Just be you. Be true to who you are and who you want to be!

Time passes no matter what you do.

Conflict never lies between two people. It always lies between rigid beliefs about the other person and the contradictions they show you. Conflict is always an inside job, but until you recognise this, it is easier to blame the other person.

You Are What You EatTake food for example. We all assume that our craving or disgust is due to something about the food itself - as opposed to being an often arbitrary response preprogrammed by our culture. We understand that Australians prefer cricket to baseball, or that the French somehow find Gerard Depardieu sexy, but how hungry would you have to be before you would consider plucking a moth from the night air and popping it, frantic and dusty, into your mouth? Flap, crunch, ooze. You could wash it down with some saliva beer.How does a plate of sheep brain's sound? Broiled puppy with gravy? May we interest you in pig ears or shrimp heads? Perhaps a deep-fried songbird that you chew up, bones, beak, and all? A game of cricket on a field of grass is one thing, but pan-fried crickets over lemongrass? That's revolting.Or is it? If lamb chops are fine, what makes lamb brains horrible? A pig's shoulder, haunch, and belly are damn fine eatin', but the ears, snout, and feet are gross? How is lobster so different from grasshopper? Who distinguishes delectable from disgusting, and what's their rationale? And what about all the expectations? Grind up those leftover pig parts, stuff 'em in an intestine, and you've got yourself respectable sausage or hot dogs. You may think bacon and eggs just go together, like French fries and ketchup or salt and pepper. But the combination of bacon and eggs for breakfast was dreamed up about a hundred years aqo by an advertising hired to sell more bacon, and the Dutch eat their fries with mayonnaise, not ketchup.Think it's rational to be grossed out by eating bugs? Think again. A hundred grams of dehydrated cricket contains 1,550 milligrams of iron, 340 milligrams of calcium, and 25 milligrams of zinc - three minerals often missing in the diets of the chronic poor. Insects are richer in minerals and healthy fats than beef or pork. Freaked out by the exoskeleton, antennae, and the way too many legs? Then stick to the Turf and forget the Surf because shrimps, crabs, and lobsters are all anthropods, just like grasshoppers. And they eat the nastiest of what sinks to the bottom of the ocean, so don't talk about bugs' disgusting diets. Anyway, you may have bug parts stuck between your teeth right now. The Food and Drug Administration tells its inspectors to ignore insect parts in black pepper unless they find more than 475 of them per 50 grams, on average. A fact sheet from Ohio State University estimates that Americans unknowingly eat an average of between one and two pounds of insects per year.An Italian professor recently published Ecological Implications of Mini-livestock: Potential of Insects, Rodents, Frogs and Snails. (Minicowpokes sold separately.) Writing in Slate.com, William Saletan tells us about a company by the name of Sunrise Land Shrimp. The company's logo: "Mmm. That's good Land Shrimp!" Three guesses what Land Shrimp is. (20-21)

Can we ever see the truth when desire blinds us? Or do we call it the truth because it is what we wish to see?

JFK had to act before his fragile body betrayed him.

My personal definition of confidence is to keep believing that the stars in the solar system are actually watching and applauding you.

Resurrection hope turned those who believed it into a counter-empire, an alternative society that knew the worst that tyrants could do and knew that the true God had the answer.

The idyll ended, as idylls must.

The struggle of today, is not altogether for today - it is for a vast future also.

Once past the comfort zone in either direction, humans soon lost the ability to discriminate bad from worse.

I don__ see the me that you see. I wish for just a lit­tle bit I could climb into you and then you could climb into me and then we could tell each other what we saw there.

If you want peace, stop labeling yourself. We all label ourselves at some point. We tell ourselves these traits that make us stand out. I am a patient person. I am smart. But what happens when we fail at being what we tell ourselves we are? What if I say something really stupid? Am I now a stupid person?These labels only stand to hurt us in the future. They make us doubt ourselves and they separate us from other people. When you label yourself, you, in turn, begin labeling others. Oh, that Jane, she is so rude. And now, as you have defined her in your mind, she is rude. Regardless of 'Jane's' future actions, she is rude.Labels set parameters on the world. They limit it when the world should be impossible to define and ever-changing.So, pause before you label.

The definition of 'Employment' by an employer, and, that by an employee, are seldom the same.

We are but cells living in a much larger organism, however, this does not make our existence less significant _ for an organism without cells is no organism at all. We define it; we make it what it is. We are responsible for its health, its functionality, and above all, its purpose. A lone cell can restore the others, or a lone cell can spread a plague.

Say that we are a puff of warm breath in a very cold universe. By this kind of reckoning we are either immeasurably insignificant or we are incalculably precious and interesting. I tend toward the second view.