HAPPY BIRTHDAY

If I had my life to live over again,
I would try to make more mistakes next time.
I'd try not to be so damned perfect;
I'd relax more, I'd limber up.

I'd be sillier than I've been on this trip;
In fact, I know of very few things I'd take quite so seriously;
I'd be crazier ... and I'd certainly be less-hygenic;
I'd take more chances ... I'd take more trips ...

I'd climb more mountains ... I'd swim more rivers ...
And I'd watch more sunsets;
I'd burn more gasoline,
I'd eat more ice cream - and fewer beans;
I'd have more actual troubles and fewer imaginary ones,

You see, I was one of those people who lived
sensibly, hour-after-hour and day-after-day;
Oh, that doesn't mean I didn't have my moments,
But if I had it to do all over,
I'd have more of those moments,
In fact, I'd try to have nothing but wonderful moments,
side-by-side.

I was one of those people who never went anywhere
without a thermometer, a hot water bottle,
a gargle, a raincoat and a parachute;
If I had it to do all over again,
I'd travel lighter next time.

If I had my life to live all over again,
I'd start barefoot earlier in the spring
and I'd stay that way later in the fall;
I'd play hooky a lot more.

I'd ride more merry-go-rounds,
I'd pick more flowers,
I'd hug more children,
I'd tell more people that I loved them,
If I had my life to live over again;
But, you see, I don't."
From the Journal of Humanistic Psychology
Written by an 85-year-old man

Youth is not a time of life -
it is a state of mind, it is a temper of the will,
a quality of the imagination,
a vigor of the emotions,
a predominance of courage over timidity,
of the appetite for adventure over love of ease.

Nobody grows old by merely living a number of years;
people grow old only by deserting their ideals.
Years wrinkle the skin,
but to give up enthusiasm wrinkles the soul.
Worry, doubt, self-distrust, fear and despair -
these are the long, long years that bow
the head and turn the growing spirit back to dust.

Whether seventy or sixteen,
there is in every being's heart
the love of wonder, the sweet amazement at the stars
and starlike things and thoughts,
the undaunted challenge of events,
the unfailing childlike appetite for what next,
and the joy and the game of life.

You are as young as your faith,
as old as your doubt;
as young as your self-confidence,
as old as your fear,
as young as your hope,
as old as your despair.

So long as your heart receives messages of beauty,
cheer, courage, grandeur and power from the earth,
from man and from the Infinite,
so long you are young.

When the wires are all down
and all the innermost core of your heart
is covered with the snows of pessimism
and the ice of cynicism,
then you are grown old indeed
and may God have mercy on your soul.
Author Unknown

Youth is not a time of life - it is a state of mind.
Nobody grows old merely by living a number of years;
people grow old only by deserting their ideals.
Years wrinkle the skin,
but to give up enthusiasm wrinkles the soul.
Worry, doubt, self-distrust, fear and despair
these are the long, long years that bow the head
and turn the growing spirit back to dust.

Whether seventy or sixteen,
there is in every being's heart the love of wonder,
the sweet amazement at the stars
and the starlike things and thoughts,
the undaunted challenge of events,
the unfailing childlike appetite for what next,
and the joy and the game of life.

You are as young as your faith,
as old as your doubt;
as young as your self-confidence,
as old as your fear;
as young as your hope,
as old as your despair.
Samuel Ullman

Reach out and take hold of this moment,
and live it to its fullest,
Don't let one second of it go by,
until you have felt its beauty.

For soon this moment, like all the rest,
will become just a memory,
that is thought about countless times,
but lived......only once.
Author unknown

For the unlearned, old age is winter.
For the learned, it is the season of the harvest.
Author unknown

Anyone who stops learning is old,
whether at 20 or 80.
Anyone who keeps learning stays young.
Henry Ford

Thanks to the many sources and the teachers for this knowledge
and wisdom that is helping us on our journey.