If you're going through hell, keep going! -Winston Churchill

I can't go there b/c the work filter blocks it...but Despair.com and other demotivational poster sites Can cheer me up, if the offerings are any good...
http://cdn.motinetwork.net/motifake.com/image/demotivational-poster/1301/soviet-russia-cop-police-sign-russia-fail-demotivational-posters-1358303323.jpg

I've always liked "On Pain" by Khalil Gibran. It implies meaning and purpose, which may not be logically defensible, but it comforts me. Here's the first half:

Your pain is the breaking of the shell that encloses
your understanding.

Even as the stone of the fruit must break, that its
heart may stand in the sun, so must you know pain.

And could you keep your heart in wonder at the
daily miracles of your life, your pain would not seem
less wondrous than your joy;

And you would accept the seasons of your heart,
even as you have always accepted the seasons that
pass over your fields.

And you would watch with serenity through the
winters of your grief.

As a counterpoint, here's one from Hylie's website:
http://www.despair.com/challenges.html

Meh, forget I recommended motifake...the posters there bite.

I did manage to get to despair.com and this poster perfectly encapsulates the philosophy behind my once and future political activism...
http://www.despair.com/teamwork.html

Sympathy is best found in the dictionary between "Shit" and "Syphilis." ~My Uncle Larry

arfie, I'm not into religion, but I believe in God...this prayer was given to me long ago...it still helps me today!

"My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going, I do not see the road ahead of me. I can not know for certain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think I am following your will, does not mean I am actually doing so.But I believe the desire to please you does in fact please you.And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing. I hope I will never do anything apart from that desire. And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road, though I may know nothing about it. Therefore will I trust you always, though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death. I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone"
Thomas Merton.....Thoughts in Solitude

My mom, as a nurse, once told me this, and it's stuck with me for all the decades:

"The worst part of pain is fearing it."

I'd have to add

"Pain suffered alone is doubled." (me, in a horrible poem from long ago)

and

"The question in life shouldn't be why me, but why *not* me?" (Father G., back in my home parish, only priest I ever liked)

and there's always my Polish grandma:

"You tell someone you hurt, you feel better, but you hurt someone, no one feels better." (Imagine it with the accent.)

"Nothing gets done if you do nothing." (bumper sticker)

***

No idea if any of that helps, but that's what I got.

"To handle yourself, use your head; to handle others, use your heart"-- Eleanor Roosevelt.

Here is a happy poem from me to you...



Life is like breakfast at Tiffany's
Life is beautiful and fun you see
Life's happy moments all come for free
Happiness comes from feeling Gratefully, for the quiet peace on finds in a cup of tea
Productivity, and yummy sweets, will always life your happy cheeks!
Curl your lips up into a smile, for all goodnight sleeps and stormless miles,
Blessings from above, sending messages of love.
This moment that you see right now, it is a gift, just look around,
It is in everything you see every leaf on every tree,
Life trembles with simplicity,
Like breakfast at Tiffany's will always melt your heart and weaken your knees.
As you can see, life is filled with peaceful possibility.



Just a small reminder to enjoy the little things in life, even when the big things are falling apart around you!!!

If you're blaming yourself for something, you deserve the credit for something, too.

--Muji

By the way, cheesecake, that Thomas Merton prayer was so good I copied it into my offline journal for me to use. Thanks for that one. I especially liked the line "But I believe the desire to please you does in fact please you." Sometimes it seems I've got more desire than results to show for myself, you know? That line was very forgiving, like I want to think God is forgiving, too.

Thanks for the kindness in that prayer today, cheesecake. Needed that.

*bump*
Because I needed this today.

:-)

The secret to happiness is to smile. Don't complicate it. ~Patti Childers

It does make a difference in my death and dying classes, when I'm discussing sorrow but can do it with a patient smile. I spoke about crying in class in an earlier post, and that was good. Smiling's good, too.