“You can’t connect the dots looking forward you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something: your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. Because believing that the dots will connect down the road will give you the confidence to follow your heart, even when it leads you off the well worn path.”
— Steve Jobs
Anita Bergen — Sometimes you have to override logic. Maintaining your faith and trust can be infinitely more valuable than reasoning. Believing and trusting are magical keys. Always believe in yourself; always trust your heart to show you the way.
“Don’t speak to me about your religion; first show it to me in how you treat other people. Don’t tell me how much you love your god; show me in how much you love all his children. Don’t preach to me your passion for your faith; teach me through your compassion for your neighbors. In the end, I’m not as interested in what you have to tell or sell as I am in how you choose to live and give.”
— Cory Booker, Mayor, Newark, NJ
Anita Bergen — Today, talk is cheap; hype is the norm and most everyone seems to have an agenda. Don’t talk “at” me. By your actions, show me the depth of your love and compassion – so that I may follow your example, living a life filled with gratitude and blessings.
“The past for a dog is just that: the past. A dog sees no point in dwelling on things that have happened; the important thing is that they are not happening now. In that respect, they have something to teach us: we so often feel that then is now, and this leads us to prolong the suffering of yesterday into the suffering of today. Dogs do not do that.”
— Alexander McCall Smith
Anita Bergen — Dogs are so wise; they live totally in the present moment. And why not?… That’s where the happiness, love and treats are. We should pay more attention.
“I’ve been making a list of the things they don’t teach you at school. They don’t teach you how to love somebody. They don’t teach you how to be famous. They don’t teach you how to be rich or how to be poor. They don’t teach you how to walk away from someone you don’t love any longer. They don’t teach you how to know what’s going on in someone else’s mind. They don’t teach you what to say to someone who’s dying. They don’t teach you anything worth knowing.”
— Neil Gaiman
Anita Bergen — Some of the most important things in life can’t be taught; they must be experienced first hand.
“It came to me that every time I lose a dog they take a piece of my heart with them, and every new dog who comes into my life gifts me with a piece of their heart.
If I live long enough, all the components of my heart will be dog, and I will become as generous and loving as they are.”
— Unknown
Anita Bergen — The bond—that spiritual alliance created between human and animal companions—becomes a very intricate and tightly woven tapestry. It evolves from a fabric of trust, devotion and unconditional love. Most times, it’s hard to tell where one thread ends and the other begins. These standards of trust are nearly impossible between humans. We seem to get much more from this arrangement than our animals do.
“Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could. Some blunders and absurdities no doubt crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day; begin it well and serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense.”
— Ralph Waldo Emerson
Anita Bergen – Treat each day as a new beginning – another chance to get it right. Don’t drag the reluctant past into the present. Yesterday has done its work and we have learned much from its lessons. Now it is time to move on; the future is waiting.
“This soldier, I realized, must have had friends at home and in his regiment, yet he lay there deserted by all except his dog. I looked on, unmoved, at battles which decided the future of nations. Tearless, I had given orders which brought death to thousands. Yet here I was stirred, profoundly stirred, stirred to tears. And by what? By the grief of one dog.”
— Napoleon Bonaparte, on finding a dog beside the body of his dead master, licking his face and howling, on a moonlit field after a battle. Napoleon was haunted by this scene until his own death.
Anita Bergen — Aldous Huxley said it best: “To his dog, every man is Napoleon.”
“It is a wonderful thing when we look at giving in that light: that whatever it is we give, we really give to ourselves. Whatever it is we withhold, we withhold from ourselves.”
— John Harricharan
Anita Bergen — It is true—especially during tough times—we need always to be grateful for our blessings and to share our talents and abundance with others.
“Has it ever struck you that those who most fear to die are the ones who most fear to live? Life is flexible and free, and you are rigid and frozen. Life carries all things away, and you crave stability and permanence. You fear life and death because you cling. You cannot bear the thought of losing a relative or friend; you dread losing a pet theory or ideology or belief. When you cling to nothing, when you have no fear of losing anything, then you are free to flow like a mountain stream that is always fresh and sparkling and alive.”
— Anthony de Mello
Anita Bergen — We are only able to experience the flow of freedom when we loosen our grasp, letting go of security, allowing the winds of eternity to steer our journey.
