Wise Words

After a week of getting bogged down with a huge variety of reports on US and UK remedies for the catastrophic global financial situation - and feeling no nearer to understanding it - I turned to my journal where over many years I've recorded scraps of wisdom from different writers.

Jenni Diski hit me first. Her description of certain tabloid newspapers reflected my feelings on the topic as well as when watching the news...."a kind of despair that grows like creeping paralysis over the will".

And then, on the same page, some uplifting words on a common theme:

Albert Camus "The evil that is in the world almost always comes from ignorance, and good intentions may do as much harm as malevolence if they lack understanding"

Marie Curie Nothing in life is to be feared. It is only to be understood.

Anton Checkhov Man will become better when you show him what he is like.

So, it's back to the drawing board if I'm to get out of this "creeping paralysis"....read, discuss and debate and try and reach a better understanding.

I wonder if other people have "wise words" to comfort themselves when their energy is low.

Here is a lovely Sanskrit poem I've visited frequently over the last 15 years.....

Look to this day, for it is life;
The very life of life.
In its brief course lie all the truths and realities of existence -
The joy of growth;
The splendour of action;
The glory of power.

For yesterday is but a memory
And tomorrow is only a vision.
But today, well lived, makes every yesterday a memory of happiness
And every tomorrow a vision of hope.

Look well, therefore, to this day.