VERY Cool! And VERY true...thanks for posting this

nice quote! And that name sounds familar, i think i have read other quotes by him

I like this one, it is so true!

I like his quote, "Your pain is the breaking of the shell which encloses your understanding."

I love Kahlil Gibran!

"Seared with scars" is a vivid image, and I like it. I'm feeling very positive and happy right now, unburdened by a lot of painful experiences from the past and eager to move forward. This has been a tough year, but I have to say that the blessings I've gained have outweighed the struggles. One thing I've learned is that it's impossible to attempt any hard work and not also face criticism, and that life seems to be an continuing ebb and flow of loss and discovery. I've learned that suffering is indeed something we can come "out of", as Nissa states, and that it's more important to be kind than to appear perfect. I'm very fortunate to have my wife as my role model (whether or not the news paper has her name spelled right, eh?), and through the turmoil of the past we have grown even closer. My kids are doing fantastically, and we are constantly in fits of laughter with them. Our house just sounds like a loving place, where people are safe and where we are always glad to see each other. There's nothing better than having a child run to you, calling your name excitedly, when you come home. I am so fortunate to live in a family that feels happy, and that really shares a closeness.

My friend Jennifer asked me recently how it was that despite a lot of pain and strife, that Tonya and I have not given up the slightest speck of compassion, or sparkle of hope in our eyes--because we haven't. Jennifer said that she would have expected that my heart would have become bitter, that I would have sulked away. She said that instead, she sees Tonya and me reaching out as much as ever. I told her that one thing I'd learned is that during adversity we need to become MORE compassionate, not harder, and that if anything my faith in the importance of friendship has been renewed. I have seen people relinquish their grasp on the guidelines of good friendship, only to drift alone. I don't want to do that. I never want to look back on a tough era in my life and criticize myself for neglecting my loved ones. As Ani Difranco says, "I owe my life to the people that I love." Who knows where I'll be in ten years? I might be in a place of hardship, and I know I'll need friends and companions.

Folks, speaking of strong souls and scars, please keep yourselves healthy. Daily Strength can just as quickly become "Daily Stress," and I would hate to see a place of humor, healing, and honest companionship become contaminated. Negativity is a very powerful emotion, and unfortunately it is easy to give in to temptation to distract our own depression and struggle by projecting it on someone else, a perceived "adversary." I'm asking for people to remain positive, and simply let negativity flow right past without giving it power. Negativity loves to feel justified in victimhood, and the only antidote to it is indifference. You can fight against something, or fight for something, and only one of those results in any actual improvements in the world. I'm asking you not to dilute your dreams to fit the world, but to change the world to fit your dreams. A mark of a true survivor is the willingness to expand one's circle of inclusion to impossibly-wide dimensions, seeing others as worthy in common with yourself. The only exclusivity in survivorhood is the rejection of negativity itself. Kick the dust off your shoes, and move on.

I don't think it's possible to do significant work and not attract at least some critics, but remember that none of you are defined by your flaws, but by your strengths. Do not become burdened by influences in your life that want to wrap you in pronouncements about your past mistakes, and do not define others by their fallibility either. A sufi poem by Rumi says,

Come, come, whoever you are.
Wonderer, worshipper, lover of leaving.
It doesn't matter.
Ours is not a caravan of despair.
Come, even if you have broken your vow
a thousand times
Come, yet again, come, come.

People who know me know that I don't give up--I just don't. My faith, the very faith I constantly fail and disappoint, still begs of me to seek good for those who might not seek it for me, extend the hand of compassion to others just as it has been extended to me, to forgive, and to see people as "strong souls", not bundles of scars.

I agree with not seeing others as bundles of scars, but I'm quite proud of mine...both the internal and the external. You know how some people tie a string around their fingers to remember something? My scars remind me of what I've done, where I've been, and how far I've come. My scars are like the rings of a tree. They grow thinner with age but lay a strong foundation for future growth.

Kahlil Gibran was the author of a book called "The Prophet"...a very wonderful collection on insights into some very difficult subjects.