"The class always comes alive to realize that everything
and I mean everything in this world can be fascinating if you sprinkle
just a little curiousity dust on it."
"It's essentail that each individual
discovers his or her own unique gift (or ichor, as the Greeks called it)
and then expresses it wholeheartedly."
"Even if some of the activities you choose appear to be
unrelated to your calling as a reading teacher, such as practising tai
chi or studying biophysics or learning to play the cello, they will encourage
you to see familiar things in distinctive ways."
"Way leads to way, it is said and that sums up how one
thing leads to another, especially when your life if full of enriching
content."
"Feeling centered about who you are and what you're here
on earth to do, that's the real work of life."
"Our daily job is to regain today what yesterday tore
away from us, to regain the feeling of being a swan."
"An overachiever is someone who
performs better than expected, not because of innate ability or talent,
but rather due to determination and hard work."
"If all you do your whole life is play to your strengths,
you risk cutting a groove that becomes a rut."
"Stay focused on goals, not busy work."
"Your goals are what will advance you in life, whereas
your tasks are what will eat up your life."
"Without doubt there are tradeoffs involved, let's not
be naive, but you don't want to do nothing simply because you're afraid
that doing more than one thing isn't possible."
"The reason that mind-body combinations are so powerful
is that physical activities release the brain from its grip on your conscious
mind, and this can be a great relief, a welcome respite from having to
be relentlessly ourselves."
"It seems that working out builds
more that just muscles. Scientists theorize that exercise improves
memory by ramping up the creation of new brain cells. The more phyically
fit you are, the better you'll perform on word-memory tasks."
"Researchers have long known that people who have physically
active and intellectually challenging lives are less likely to develop
dementia than those who do not. Fighting mental malnutrition by cross-training
your brain is itself protective."
"During exercise, you'll remember things you didn't realize
had slipped your mind."
"The minute you realize you can have what you want in
this life, you run smack into the paralysis of freedom."
"The road to richly satisfying experiences usually passes through the terrain of discomfort, everyone wants satisfaction, but not everyong is bulldog enough to persist through the struggle phase."
Written by Ingrid E. Cummings
The
Vigorous Mind
