Words of Wisdom
From the heart and soul of JoyBeth…
People sometimes ask me if I really believe in angels—or elves or an afterlife or past lives or that we can heal great dis-eases with the power of mind and spirit—and I often say “No, I don't just believe in any of these. I know all of these truths as realities. I have, myself, directly experienced each of these life possibilities.” And that is what I hope for you: that you will open up your heart, mind, and soul to developing your divine abilities to intuit, touch, see, hear, and directly dialogue with the multidimensional realities of this amazing life journey we are here—as spiritual beings in human form—to deeply experience.
Words of Wisdom features sayings and writings from others that can inspire and help to expand our own knowledge. It is also where JoyBeth will post any questions you wish to ask about spirituality and the responses she is inspired to write. Contact JoyBeth in order to “ask and you shall receive…”
- “When I stand before God at the end of my life, I would hope that I would have not a single bit of talent left and could say, ‘I used everything You gave me…’” ~ Erma Bombeck
- “Do small things with great love…” ~ Mother Theresa
- “The human being is not a set of circumstances, but a set of attitudes…” ~ Buddha
- “We are not here to save the world, but to serve an emerging paradigm of love, connectedness, and generosity of heart…” ~ Michael Beckwith
- “The greatest problem facing the 21st century is the problem of the faith divide. The faith divide does not separate Muslims from Christians, Gentiles from Jews, Believers from Nonbelievers. The faith divide separates people who want to live together as brothers and sisters from people who want to perish together as fools…” ~ Eboo Patel
June 2009, from JoyBeth:
My nephew, Bobby, recently graduated from Southern Methodist University Law School in Dallas, Texas. As Vice President of the student body, it was his task to give the invocation. Hung on either side of the podium were 16 different countries' flags representing the different parts of our world these learners were from…
- “Gracious God, of so many names and such immeasurable love, giver of all knowledge and understanding, and to whom all life is sacred:
- We give thanks for this opportunity to celebrate the common bonds that joined us three years ago and that continue to hold us together today.
- Instill in us the awakened sense that the lives we live and the achievements we accomplish are not for our individual selves alone,
- But because we belong to each other—because we exist for the sake of one another, and the connection that unites us all,
- Fill us with gratitude for all the blessings that have been bestowed upon us: community, faculty, friends, and family.
- There is no book that can teach us what we have learned from each other, especially from those whose experience and perspective differ dramatically from our own.
- O God of many names, we ask all this for our sake and for the sake of the world.
- Amen”
Dealing with Others
- I have come to the frightening conclusion that I am the decisive element.
- It is my personal approach that creates the climate.
- It is my daily mood that makes the weather.
- I possess tremendous power to make life miserable or joyous.
- I can be a tool of torture or an instrument of inspiration,
- I can humiliate or humor, hurt or heal. In all situations,
- It is my response that decides whether a crises is escalated
- Or de-escalated, and a person is humanized or de-humanized.
- If we treat people as they are, we make them worse.
- If we treat people as they ought to be,
- We help them become what they are capable of becoming.
- ~Goethe
I Praise the Dance
by Saint Augustine
- I praise the dance, for it frees people
- from the heaviness of matter and binds the isolated to community.
- I praise the dance, which demands everything:
- health and a clear spirit and a buoyant soul.
- Dance is a transformation of space, of time, of people,
- who are in constant danger of becoming all brain, will, or feeling.
- Dancing demands a whole person,
- one who is firmly anchored in the center of their life,
- who is not obsessed by lust for people and things
- and the demon of isolation in his own ego.
- Dancing demands a freed person,
- one who vibrates with the equipoise of all their powers.
- I praise the dance.
- O people, learn to dance,
- or else the angels in heaven will not know what to do with you…