here's a payoff for everyone. The reason we hang on to self-defeating behaviors is because it's easier not to take responsibility.

The war in Iraq, specifically America's role of leadership in this war, is a painful invitation to ask ourselves what, if anything, we've learned from previous wars. I am revolted by the brutal killing of hundreds of thousands of innocent people during any war. And I'm saddened by the apparent inability of human beings to find less violent solutions to conflict and terrorism.

Live today. Let go of your attachment to your past as an excuse for your life conditions today. You are the product of the choices you are making right now.

Hidden in all good fortune is misfortune. And in all misfortune is good fortune. It's never going to stay the same as long you are in the world or unless you die while you are alive and become an enlightened Zen Master. But those people don't exist. When you study their lives, you find that they had the same struggles as the rest of us. It's not so much about being able to always have calm. Calmness isn't just the absence of noise or troubles. It's being able to find calm within yourself when other stuff is going on.

With God, all things are possible.

We are not a body with a soul, but a soul with a body. When the body dies the soul returns to the source.

Miracles come in moments. Be ready and willing.