Einstein Speaks!
Three weeks ago, my 11-year old daughter Mimi, (hugging Einstein's arm) and her two friends went to the Madame Tussaud Wax Museum in New York City. They had their pictures taken with all the legends; Brittany Spears, Robin Williams, John Lennon, Abraham Lincoln, and many others. Of all the pictures, the girls seemed most themselves with Einstein.
What a remarkable man he was -- the epitome of human brainpower and intelligence and yet, at the same time, a deeply soulful, spiritual, and humble man. Click below for some of the amazing pearls of wisdom he left behind...
"There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle."
"Few are those who see with their own eyes and feel with their own hearts."
"Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler."
"Not everything that counts can be counted; and not everything that can be counted counts."
"Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new."
"Education is what remains after one has forgotten everything he learned in school."
"Only a life lived for others is a life worthwhile."
"A man should look for what is, and not for what he thinks should be."
"A question that sometimes drives me hazy: am I or are the others crazy?"
"Intellectuals solve problems, geniuses prevent them."
"I have no special talent. I am only passionately curious."
"If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough."
Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 10:21 PM | Comments (0)
October 13, 2008Failure Is Not What You Think It Is
If you're inspired and have an idea you think will make a difference in the world, chances are good that you are feeling two things -- excitement and a fear of failure.
You're excited because you're motivated from the inside and see how your idea can help. At the same time, you're hesitating, because you don't want to fail.
This is the same challenge all people face. It's been going on for thousands of years. Failure? The only failure that can happen is you choosing not to act because you are afraid to fail.
Take a risk! Step up to the plate. The force is with you! As a great pundit once put it, "If not YOU, who? If not NOW, when?
But hey, don't take my word for it. Click below for some juicy quotes on the topic -- everyone from Miles Davis to Thomas Edison.
"An inventor fails 999 times, and if he succeeds once, he's in. He treats his failures simply as practice shots." -- Charles Kettering
"Do not fear mistakes. There are none." -- Miles Davis
"The way to succeed is to double your failure rate."
-- Thomas Watson, Founder of IBM
"Failure is only the opportunity to begin again more intelligently."
-- Henry Ford
"Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall." -- Confucius
"Give me the young man who has brains enough to make a fool of himself." -- Robert Louis Stevenson
"Adversity reveals genius, prosperity conceals it." -- Horace
"I don't know the key to success, but the key to failure is trying to please everybody." -- Bill Cosby
"I have not failed once. I've just found 10,000 ways that didn't work." -- Thomas Edison
"Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly."
-- Robert F. Kennedy
"No matter how well you perform, there's always somebody of intelligent opinion who thinks it's lousy." -- Sir Laurence Olivier
"If your life is free of failures, you're not taking enough risks."
-- H. Jackson Brown
"You may be disappointed if you fail, but you are doomed if you don't try." -- Beverly Sills
"I failed my way to success." -- Thomas Edison
"99 percent of success is built on failure." -- Charles Kettering
"Act as if it were impossible to fail." -- Dorothea Brande
"Failure is success if we learn from it." -- Malcolm Forbes
"You can only be as good as you dare to be bad." -- John Barrymore
"The season of failure is the best time for sowing the seeds of success." -- Paramahansa Yogananda
"Never confuse a single defeat with a final defeat."
-- F. Scott Fitzgerald
"You may have a fresh start any moment you choose, for this thing that we call 'failure' is not the falling down, but the staying down." -- Mary Pickford
"Never give in, never give in, never, never, never never -- in nothing, great or small, large or petty -- never give in except to convictions of honor and good sense." -- Winston Churchill
"We are not retreating -- we are advancing in another direction."
-- Douglas MacArthur
"I am not discouraged, because every wrong attempt discarded is another step forward." -- Thomas A. Edison
"Fall seven times, stand up eight." -- Japanese Proverb
"Stumbling is not falling." -- Portuguese Proverb
Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 12:37 PM | Comments (0)
September 24, 2008The Temple of Your Heart
I just came across these inspiring words from Maharaji on innerlink.tv. A timeless message, indeed...
"Look in you. Look in your heart. And you will find the truest essence of your existence. Look within you and you will find the most beautiful waters. Look within you and you will find your solutions. Look within you and you will find your answers. Answers to which you don't even have questions to yet.
The holiest of all scriptures that ever will be, will be in the temple of your heart."
Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 12:11 PM | Comments (1)
September 12, 2008"I'm astounded by people who want to 'know' the universe when it's hard enough to find your way around Chinatown." - Woody Allen
Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 03:34 PM | Comments (0)
August 14, 2008"The greatest invention in the world is the mind of a child." - Edison
Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 04:47 AM | Comments (0)
July 27, 2008"God does not have a religion." (Mahatma Ghandi)
Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 02:36 AM | Comments (0)
June 28, 2008"Security is mostly a superstition. Life is either a daring adventure or nothing." (Helen Keller)
Feeling a little off today? Cash flow problems got you down? Relationship a bit shaky? Wondering how you're going to pay the rent?
If so, you may want to reflect on the above words of Hellen Keller, the inspiration behind The Miracle Worker, and the first deafblind person ever to graduate college.
Hey, you can SEE! You can HEAR! You can SPEAK! She couldn't -- and still she found her way through the obstacles to become a prolific author and a leading supporter of women's suffrage and worker's rights.
Hellen Keller was right. Security IS mostly a superstition. Life IS a daring adventure or nothing. The key, for all of us, is to stay conscious of this, make our little effort, and have some faith.
Everything happens for the best! Enjoy the adventure!
Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 01:20 PM | Comments (1)
May 25, 2008"Forgiveness is the fragrance flowers give off when they have been trampled on."
Is there anyone you need to forgive?
Is there any way you can forgive this person today? This week?
Is there anything you need to forgive yourself for? And if so, when will you do it?
Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 12:21 AM | Comments (1)
May 20, 2008"When a pickpocket meets a saint, all he sees are pockets."
"Motivation," explains psychologists, "affects perception."
In other words, you tend to SEE what your mind is preoccupied with. If you're driving through a town and you're hungry, you'll see the restaurants.
If you're running out of gas, you'll see the gas stations. If someone you love is dying, chances are good you'll see the funeral homes.
What's motivating YOU today? What lens might you be looking through? And what if you could remove that lens -- such that your experience of life was not skewed or limited or filtered?
What if your motivation was joy? What if your motivation was service... or love... or forgiveness? Might you not see the world in new ways?
If, upon seeing a saint, you saw love instead of pockets, possibility instead of doubt, how might your experience of life change for the better?
Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 03:05 PM | Comments (0)
May 17, 2008"Not everything that counts can be counted; and not everything that can be counted counts." (Albert Einstein)
Some things we can measure. Some things we can't. And just because we can measure something doesn't make it more real or significant. Einstein knew this. There was always the "X factor" for him -- mystery, the unknown, the divine, and the impossible to quantify.
That's why he used to conduct "thought experiments" in his lab -- times when he turned away from the blackboard with all those exotic formulas and simply daydreamed -- letting the intuitive side of him take over for a change.
Hmmm... what might YOU be attempting to quantify or measure that would best be left alone? What might you be needing to TRUST that abides outside the boundaries of the rational, logical, analytical, scientific mind?
Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 11:02 AM | Comments (1)
May 09, 2008"The world is an illusion, but you have to act as if it's real." (Krishna)
Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 02:33 AM | Comments (0)
