Today For Gandhi

Today's Thoughts: Gandhi Quotes.

"Literally speaking, ahimsa means non-violence. But to me it has much higher, infinitely higher meaning. It means that you may not offend anybody; you may not harbor uncharitable thought, even in connection with those who consider your enemies. To one who follows this doctrine, there are no enemies. A man who believes in the efficacy of this doctrine finds in the ultimate stage, when he is about to reach the goal, the whole world at his feet. If you express your love- Ahimsa-in such a manner that it impresses itself indelibly upon your so called enemy, he must return that love.
This doctrine tells us that we may guard the honor of those under our charge by delivering our own lives into the hands of the man who would commit the sacrilege. And that requires far greater courage than delivering of blows."

"I not only practice vegetarianism, but also a strict control of one's palate. A man who wants to control his animal passions easily does so if he controls his palate. Unless we are prepared to rid ourselves of stimulating, heating, and exciting condiments, we shall certainly, not able to control the over-abundant, unnecessary, and exciting stimulation of the animal passions. If we do not do that, we are likely to abuse the sacred trust of our bodies that has been given to us.
I have philosophical reasons to advocate vegetarianism. I believe that the animals have spirits and souls also."

"My association with Christians dates from 1889 and there was a time in my life when I sincerely considered Christianity as my religion. In my pursuit, I met many a scholars and thinkers, who while having a profound effect on me, were not able to convince me. Although I admire much in Christianity, I am unable to identify myself with the orthodox Christianity. I must tell you in all humility that Hinduism, as I know it, entirely satisfies my soul, and fills my whole being.The missionaries come to India thinking that they come to a land of heathen, of idolaters, of men who do not know God. My own experiences all over India have been on the contrary. An average Indian is as much a seeker after truth as the Christian missionaries are, possibly more so.
Please do not flatter yourselves with the belief that a mere recital of that celebrated verse in St. John makes a man Christian. If I have read the Bible correctly, I know many men who have never known the name of Jesus Christ, men who have even rejected the official interpretations of Christianity, but would nevertheless, if Jesus came in our midst today in the flesh, be probably owned by him more than many of us. My position is that it does not matter what faith you practice, as long as the soul longs for truth."

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More Quotes

All great truths begin as blasphemies. ~ George Bernard Shaw

We, on our side, are praying to Him to give us victory, because we believe we are right; but those on the other side pray to Him, too, for victory, believing they are right. What must He think of us? ~ Abraham Lincoln

True greatness is measured by how much freedom you give to others, not by how much you can coerce others to do what you want. ~ Larry Wall, Creator of Perl

The one thing that doesn't abide by majority rule is a person's conscience. ~ Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird

When all else fails, men turn to reason. ~ Abba Eban

Play is the highest form of research. ~ Albert Einstein

The greatest problem with communication is the illusion that it has occurred. ~ George Bernard Shaw

When I'm working on a problem, I never think about beauty. I think only how to solve the problem. But when I have finished, if the solution is not beautiful, I know it is wrong. ~ R. Buckminster Fuller

Look to the origin of your effort, not the results ~ Shunryu Suzuki

It's good to have the things money can buy provided we do not lose the things money cannot buy. ~ W. Wiersbe

Act from reason, and failure makes you rethink and study harder. Act from faith, and failure makes you blame someone and push harder. ~ unknown

Do not be too moral. You may cheat yourself out of much life. Aim above morality. Be not simply good; be good for something. ~ Henry David Thoreau (1817 - 1862)

Don't worry about avoiding temptation! As you grow old, it starts avoiding you! ~ Unknown
Most problems are created not by circumstances but by a particular perception of them. ~ Edward de Bono

The greatest problem with communication is the illusion that it has occurred. ~ George Bernard Shaw

Failure is never permanent. ~ unknown

The hottest places in Hell are reserved for those who, in times of moral crisis, preserved their neutrality. ~ Dante Alighieri (1265-1321)

He who buys what he does not need steals from himself. - unknown

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The Key Of Destiny

Gandhi Quote of the day. "I have not the shadow of a doubt that any man or woman can achieve what I have, if he or she would make the same effort and cultivate the same hope and faith."

Thought For Today:Emmet Fox Speaks.

The Key Of Destiny
There are a few great laws that govern all thinking,just as there are a few fundamental laws in chemistry, in physics, and in mechanics, for example. We know that thought control is the Key of Destiny, and in order to learn thought control we have to know and understand these laws, just as the chemist has to understand the laws of chemistry, and the electrician has to know the laws of electricity. One of the great mental laws is the Law of Substitution. This means that the only way to get rid of a certain thought is to substitute another one for it. You cannot dismiss a thought directly. You can do so only by substituting another one for it. On the physical plane this is not the case. You can drop a book or a stone by simply opening your hand and letting it go; but with thought this will not work. If you want to dismiss a negative thought, the only way to do so is to think of something positive and constructive. It is as though in order, let us say, to drop a pencil, it were necessary to put a pen or a book or a stone into your hand, when the pencil would fall away.
If I say to you, "Do not think of the Statue of Liberty," of course, you immediately think of it. If you say, "I am not going to think of the Statue of Liberty," that is thinking of it. But now, having thought of it, if you become interested in something else, say, by turning on the radio, you forget all about the Statue of Liberty - and this is a case of substitution.
It sometimes happens that negative thoughts seem to besiege you in such force that you cannot overcome them. That is what is called a fit of depression, or a fit of worry, or perhaps even a fit of anger. In such a case the best thing is to go and find someone to talk to on any subject, or to go to a good movie or play, or read an interesting book, say a good novel or biography or travel book, or something of the kind. If you sit down to fight the negative tide you will probably succeed only in amplifying it.
Turn your attention to something quite different, refusing steadfastly to think of or rehearse the difficulty, and, later on, after you have completely gotten away from it, you can come back with confidence and handle it by spiritual treatment. "I say unto you that you resist not evil." Matthew 5.39

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General Quotes II

Thoughts For Today:

If you can't solve a problem, it's because you are playing by the rules. ~ Paul Arden
In modern war, what is most shocking is a poor guide to what is most harmful. ~ Jonathan Glover

Do not wait for leaders; do it alone, person to person. ~ Mother Teresa

A leader is not an administrator who loves to run others, but someone who carries water for his people so that they can get on with their jobs. ~ Robert Townsend

Perfection is the enemy of the good. ~ Gustave Flaubert

Insanity in individuals is something rare; but in groups, parties, nations, and epochs it is the rule. ~ Nietzsche

Be happy while you're living, for you're a long time dead. ~ Scottish proverb
Be kind; everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle. ~ Plato

War is a cowardly escape from the problems of peace. ~ Thomas Mann

Which is it, is man one of God's blunders or is God one of man's? ~ Nietzsche

Knowledge, idea, belief stands in the way of wisdom. ~ J. Krishnamurthi

I contend that we are both atheists. I just believe in one fewer god than you do. When you understand why you dismiss all the other possible gods, you will understand why I dismiss yours. ~ Stephen Roberts

You know your god is man-made when he hates all the same people you do.~ [Usenet]

The trouble with the world is that the stupid are cocksure and the intelligent are full of doubt. ~ Bertrand Russell

Work like you don't need the money. Love like you've never been hurt. Dance like no body's watching. ~ Satchel Paige

We must question the story logic of having an all-knowing all-powerful God, who creates faulty humans, and then blames them for his own mistakes. ~ Gene Roddenberry

I like your Christ; I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ. ~ Mohandas Gandhi

Disobedience is the true foundation of liberty. The obedient must be slaves. ~ Henry David Thoreau

Disobedience, in the eyes of anyone who has read history, is man's original virtue. It is through disobedience that progress has been made, through disobedience and through rebellion.

Have a sunny day.Fine Art and Jewelry.

General Quotes

I'd like to thank Linda of Hammelman Art for recognizing this blog with an award.

Being happy doesn't mean every thing's perfect. It means you've decided to see beyond the imperfections.

Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away.

Success in life is determined by your ability to go from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm.~ Winston Churchill

I want to become the kind of person my dog thinks I am. ~ Unknown

Life is denied by lack of attention, whether it be to cleaning windows or trying to write a masterpiece. ~ Nadia Boulanger

The past is history, the future a mystery, and the present a precious gift, hence the name.
Kind words can be short and easy to speak, but their echoes are truly endless. ~ Mother Teresa

I would read stuff in scholarly texts and know they were wrong. Living in Haiti, I realized that a minor error in one setting of power and privilege could have an enormous impact on the poor in another. ~ Paul Farmer to Tracy Kidder, Mountains Beyond Mountains, p 78

A new scientific truth does not triumph by convincing its opponents and making them see the light. but rather because its opponents eventually die, and new generation grow up that is familiar with it (the new scientific truth.~ Max Plank

There must be no barriers to freedom of inquiry. There is no place for dogma in science. The scientist is free, and must be free to ask any question, to doubt any assertion, to seek for any evidence, to correct any errors. ~ J. Robert Oppenheimer (Life, Oct. 10, 1949)

A child's feeling of self-esteem is centered on the experience for which he/she is noticed most intently. ~ Howard Glasser

Thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil. ~ Exodus 23:2

People will believe the most outrageous of lies once the truth is removed from consideration. ~ Frank Peretti, from Piercing the Darkness

In a nation ruled by swine, all pigs are upwardly mobile, and the rest of us are fucked until we can put our acts together: not necessarily to win, but mainly to keep from losing completely. We owe that to ourselves and our crippled self-image as something better than a nation of panicked sheep. ~ Hunter S. Thompson - The Great Shark Hunt, 1979

'Now' is the operative word. Everything you put in your way is just a method of putting off the hour when you could actually be doing your dream. You don’t need endless time and perfect conditions. Do it now. Do it today. Do it for twenty minutes and watch your heart start beating.~ Barbara Sher

Cowardice asks the question, 'Is it safe?' Expediency asks the question, 'Is it politic?' Vanity asks the question, 'Is it popular?' But, conscience asks the question, 'Is it right?' And there comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular but one must take it because one's conscience tells one that it is right. ~ Martin Luther King, Jr.

The way to succeed is to double your error rate.~ Thomas J. Watson

The pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity. The optimist sees opportunity in every difficulty. ~ Winston Churchill

There is no sadder sight than a young pessimist.
Mark Twain

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Gandhi,Emmet Fox, and Buddha

Gandhi Quote Of The Day.
Always aim at complete harmony of thought and word and deed. Always aim at purifying your thoughts and everything will be well.

"Thought for today:"You can change your thoughts and feelings and then the outer things will come to correspond,and indeed there is no other way of working." [ Emmet Fox ]

Thought for today II:

All that we are is the result of what we have thought. The mind is everything . What we think we become. [ Buddha ]

God's View: I Wonder by Ted Godsil : Blameless, clueless,misgiving, order, chaos, shame, thought, I wonder about thought. I wonder about confusion, I wonder about pain, not guilty, ignorant, cruel, right, anxiety, reality, thought, I wonder about thought. I wonder about meaning, I wonder about pain, yesterday,today, tomorrow, the father, the son, the future, thought, I wonder about thought. I wonder about understanding, I wonder about pain, in the name of the, it's always darkest just before the, I wonder, I wonder about thought. The thought, the wonder, the father, the dawn, I wonder about thought, but mostly I wonder about the wonder of thought.

I'm re-posting these thoughts because they seem relevant. Have a sunny day. Fine Art and Jewelry.

Gandhi All Day

Gandhi Quote For Today.

The Gospel Of Faith
IT IS faith that steers us through stormy seas, faith that moves mountains and faith that jumps across the ocean. That faith is nothing but a living, wide-awake consciousness of God within. He who has achieved that faith wants nothing. Bodily diseased, he is spiritually healthy; physically poor, he rolls in spiritual riches.
Without faith this world would come to naught in a moment. True faith is appropriation of the reasoned experience of people whom we believe to have lived a life purified by prayer and penance. Belief, therefore, in prophets or incarnations who have lived in remote ages is not an idle superstition but a satisfaction of an inmost spiritual want.
Faith is not a delicate flower, which would wither under the slightest stormy weather. Faith is like the Himalaya mountains which cannot possibly change. No storm can possibly remove the Himalaya mountains from their foundations. … And I want every one of you to cultivate that faith in God and religion.
Limitations of Reason: Experience has humbled me enough to let me realize the specific limitations of reason. Just as matter misplaced becomes dirt, reason misused becomes lunacy.
Rationalists are admirable beings, rationalism is a hideous monster when it claims for itself omnipotence. Attribution of omnipotence to reason is as bad a piece of idolatry as is worship of stock and stone believing it to be God.
I plead not for the suppression of reason, but for a due recognition of that in us which sanctifies reason itself.
To me it is as plain as a pikestaff that, where there is an appeal to reason pure and undefiled, there should be no appeal to authority however great it may be.
There are subjects where Reason cannot take us far and we have to accept things on faith. Faith then does not contradict Reason but transcends it. Faith is a kind of sixth sense which works in cases which are without the purview of Reason.
Meaning of Religion : Let me explain what I mean by religion. It is not the Hindu religion which I certainly prize above all other religions, but the religion which transcends Hinduism, which changes one's very nature, which binds one indissolubly to the truth within and which ever purifies. It is the permanent element in human nature which counts no cost too great in order to find full expression and which leaves the soul utterly restless until it has found itself, known its Maker and appreciated the true correspondence between the Maker and itself.
By religion, I do not mean formal religion, or customary religion, but that religion which underlies all religions, which brings us face to face with our Maker.
My Religion has no geographical limits. If I have a living faith in it, it will transcend my love for India herself.
Mine is not a religion of the prison-house. It has room for the least among God's creation. But it is proof against insolence, pride of race, religion or colour.
There is undoubtedly a sense in which the statement is true when I say that I hold my religion dearer than my country and that, therefore, I am a Hindu first and nationalist after. I do not become on that score a less nationalist than the best of them. I simply thereby imply that the interests of my country are identical with those of my religion.
Similarly when I say that I prize my own salvation above everything else, above the salvation of India, it does not mean that my personal salvation requires a sacrifice of India's political or any other salvation. But it implies necessarily that the two go together.
This is the maxim of life which I have accepted, namely, that no work done by any man, no matter how great he is, will really prosper unless he has religious backing.
I have abundant faith in my cause and humanity. Indian humanity is no worse than any other; possibly it is better. Indeed, the cause presumes faith in human nature. Dark though the path appears, God will light it and guide my steps, if I have faith in His guidance and humility enough to acknowledge my helplessness without that infallible guidance.
This may be considered to be quixotic, but it is my firm faith that he who undertakes to do something in the name of God, and in full faith in Him, even at the end of his days, does not work in vain; and I am sure that the work I have undertaken is not mine, but is God's.
That is dharma which is enjoined by the holy books, followed by the sages, interpreted by the learned and which appealed to the heart. The first three conditions must be fulfilled before the fourth comes into operation. Thus one has no right to follow the precepts of an ignorant man or a rascal even though they commend themselves to one. Rigorous observance of harmlessness, non-enmity and renunciation are the first requisites for a person to entitle him to lay down the law, i.e., dharma.
Futility of Force: I have a deep conviction that no religion can be sustained by brute force. On the contrary, those who take the sword always perish by the sword. (H, 9-3-1934, p. 29)
Religions, like nations, are being weighed in the balance. That religion and that nation will be blotted out of the face of earth, which pins its faith to injustice, untruth or violence.
Morality:With me moral includes spiritual. …In my career as a reformer, I have regarded everything from the moral standpoint. Whether I am engaged in tackling a political question or a social or an economic one, the moral side of it always obtrudes itself and it pervades my whole attitude.
There is no such thing as absolute morality for all times. But there is a relative morality, which is absolute enough for imperfect mortals that we are. Thus, it is absolutely immoral to drink spirituous liquors except as medicine, in medicinal doses and under medical advice. Similarly, it is absolutely wrong to see lustfully any woman other than one's wife. Both these positions have been proved by cold reason. Counter-arguments have always been advanced. They have been advanced against the very existence of God-the Sum of all that Is. Faith that transcends reason is our only Rock of Ages. …My faith has saved me and is still saving me from pitfalls. It has never betrayed me. It has never been known to betray anyone.
Diversity of Religion: In reality there are as many religions as there are individuals.
Religions are different roads converging upon the same point. What does it matter that we take different roads, so long as we reach the same goal?
I do not share the belief that there can or will be on earth one religion. I am striving, therefore, to find a common factor and to induce mutual tolerance.

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The Creation: Kahlil Gibran

Kahlil Gibran Romantic Love Letters is a site dedicated to the beauty of Gibran's words. If you enjoy this post go check it out.

The Creation
The God separated a spirit from Himself and fashioned it into Beauty. He showered upon her all the blessings of gracefulness and kindness. He gave her the cup of happiness and said, "Drink not from this cup unless you forget the past and the future, for happiness is naught but the moment." And He also gave her a cup of sorrow and said, "Drink from this cup and you will understand the meaning of the fleeting instants of the joy of life, for sorrow ever abounds."

And the God bestowed upon her a love that would desert he forever upon her first sigh of earthly satisfaction, and a sweetness that would vanish with her first awareness of flattery.

And He gave her wisdom from heaven to lead to the all-righteous path, and placed in the depth of her heart and eye that sees the unseen, and created in he an affection and goodness toward all things. He dressed her with raiment of hopes spun by the angels of heaven from the sinews of the rainbow. And He cloaked her in the shadow of confusion, which is the dawn of life and light.

Then the God took consuming fire from the furnace of anger, and searing wind from the desert of ignorance, and sharp- cutting sands from the shore of selfishness, and coarse earth from under the feet of ages, and combined them all and fashioned Man. He gave to Man a blind power that rages and drives him into a madness which extinguishes only before gratification of desire, and placed life in him which is the spectre of death.

And the god laughed and cried. He felt an overwhelming love and pity for Man, and sheltered him beneath His guidance.

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Thich Nhat Hanh Quotes

Thought For Today: Thich Nhat Hanh Quotes.
Thich Nhat Hanh

Short Quotes on Love and Compassion

When we come into contact with the other person, our thoughts and actions should express our mind of compassion, even if that person says and does things that are not easy to accept. We practice in this way until we see clearly that our love is not contingent upon the other person being lovable.

We really have to understand the person we want to love. If our love is only a will to possess, it is not love. If we only think of ourselves, if we know only our own needs and ignore the needs of the other person, we cannot love.

People deal too much with the negative, with what is wrong. Why not try and see positive things, to just touch those things and make them bloom?
In true dialogue, both sides are willing to change.

Training is needed in order to love properly; and to be able to give happiness and joy, you must practice DEEP LOOKING directed toward the other person you love. Because if you do not understand this person, you cannot love properly. Understanding is the essence of love. If you cannot understand, you cannot love. That is the message of the Buddha. [True Love. A Practice for Awakening the Heart.]

So if we love someone, we should train in being able to listen. By listening with calm and understanding, we can ease the suffering of another person. [True Love. A Practice for Awakening the Heart.]

Love is the capacity to take care, to protect, to nourish. If you are not capable of generating that kind of energy toward yourself- if you are not capable of taking care of yourself, of nourishing yourself, of protecting yourself- it is very difficult to take care of another person. In the Buddhist teaching, it's clear that to love oneself is the foundation of the love of other people. Love is a practice. Love is truly a practice. [Shambhala Sun March 2006 ]

The essence of love and compassion is understanding, the ability to recognize the physical, material, and psychological suffering of others, to put ourselves "inside the skin" of the other. We "go inside" their body, feelings, and mental formations, and witness for ourselves their suffering. Shallow observation as an outsider is not enough to see their suffering. We must become one with the subject of our observation. When we are in contact with an other's suffering, a feeling of compassion is born in us. Compassion means, literally, "to suffer with."

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Affirmation

Thought For Today: Emmet Fox Speaks.

"A prayer treatment is a form of prayer based upon right thinking, namely thinking of God the Good. A vehicle through which healing is achieved." The principle of treatment, states Emmet Fox, is to "stop thinking about the problem and think only about God's perfect world." A treatment deals first with states of mind, then with the situation or condition to be healed. Dr. Fox gave these examples - "The source of all good is established within me. I am filled with the life of Spirit. I give thanks for a healthy, joyous and peaceful life . I now realize the presence of God within me. I am growing and unfolding every day." This type of prayer is called Treatment. Dr. Fox said, "silent prayer is more powerful than audible prayer, because by silent prayer the mind comes closer to creative Spirit. (Emmet Fox's Keys to Life and Health)
In the Golden Key, Emmet Fox wrote: "If you are thinking about your difficulty, you are not thinking about God. Your object is to drive the thought of difficulty out of your consciousness for a few moments at least, substituting for it the thought of God. At first it may be difficult to get your thoughts away from material things. But by constantly repeating a statement of absolute truth, such as, God is guiding me now, however mechanical it may seem, you will soon find that the treatment has begun to "take" and that your mind is clearing." He emphasized, " Do not try to think in advance what the solution to your difficulty will be. Leave the questions and ways and means to God." (The Golden Key)
An affirmation is a positive statement of Truth.

Peace - God I feel your peace as it moves gently through my soul. I feel a sense of serenity now as I let go of all cares and challenges. All tension is released. I am filled with inner peace that overflows into everything I do. Throughout this day I will be unfolding in your loving care.
" Peace be to you, and peace be to your house, and peace be to all that you have" 1 Samuel 25:6

Healing - God created me to express a full and happy life. Every second of every day spiritual energy flows through every cell, organ, muscle, tissue and fiber of my being, revitalizing and renewing me. I do not allow symptoms or medical terms to alarm me. I am filled with the spirit of health. I make positive statements about my health. I am complete and whole because the spirit of God fills me with ever-renewing life.
"Then your light shall break forth like the dawn and your healing shall spring up quickly" Isaiah 58:8
Finances - My supply is continuous and unending, I am never closed to it. Prosperity circulates though my life freely. I am healed of all thoughts of difficulties in finances. I rejoice in the consciousness that God has given me access to inexhaustible spiritual substance. I am prosperous because I know God. I am demonstrating prosperity because there is nothing within me to deny it.
"The Lord is my shepherd I shall not want" Psalm 23

Comfort - Father, as I think of you, I feel your love. I become still and feel your everlasting arms of love around me. God I know without a doubt that you love me, so I trust you completely. I feel safe and secure. God you soothe my thoughts and enrich my soul. I am ready to face my day feeling your loving presence.
"The Lord has comforted his people, and will have compassion on his suffering ones" Isaiah 49:13

Forgiveness - The forgiving love of Christ now releases all negative thoughts from my consciousness cleansing my life of all criticism, anger, hurt, worry and fear. Infinite love fills me with harmony and love. I feel the gentle forgiving spirit throughout my entire being.
"Do not judge and you will not be judged; do not condemn and you will not be condemned. Forgive and you will be forgiven" Luke 6:37

Relationship - I now erase any pattern in my sub-consciousness mind blocking true companionship. I am created by the Mind of the universe in love. I give love and receive love. I experience good friendships, and harmonious, loving relationships.
"Love comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith" 1 Timothy 1:5

Blessings - I am in my right place to give or receive blessings. Every day a divine plan unfolds with opportunities to bless and be blessed. These divine appointments are not happening by chance but by a divine design. I move through today in faith ,with conviction that opportunities for good manifests since I am in the right place at the right time.
"So Abraham called that place "The LORD will provide"; as it is said to this day, "On the mount of the LORD it shall be provided." Gen. 22:14

Animal Blessing - I give special thanks for the animal friend in my life and for animals everywhere. My little pet fills my life with joy, revealing God's love in expression. I bless my little companion, knowing it is well and happy.
"But those who wait on the LORD will find new strength. They will fly high on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not faint." - Isaiah 40:31

Indecision - There is no doubt. I am never uncertain what to do, for God's ideas unfold to me continually in perfect sequence, giving joy and happiness.
" A man's goings are established of the Lord, and he delighteth in his way" Ps. 37:23

Weight Release - I do not over eat. The intelligence of God guides me through my mind, through my appetite, through my sense of smell and sight, and I eat only the foods that are best for my bodily health. I release all UN-needed weight in divine order. Thank you God.

Have a sunny day. Fine Art and Jewelry.