Obama plays chess while Republican leaders cheat at checkers..

If controlling another human being is the goal of parenting, then force is necessary. Fear, intimidation, threats, power-plays, and physical pain are the means of control.  But if growing healthy humans is the goal, then building trust relationships, encouraging, guiding, leading, teaching, and communicating are the tools for success. --LR Knost

CS Lewis: "I don't pray to change God. I pray to change me." He told that to someone who asked what he asked God for when his wife was dying. I personally don't believe God "steps in" arbitrarily for things like that. I like what our founding fathers, who were mostly Deists believed: Something along the lines of, "Whenever someone tells you a miracle happened, you have to either believe all the laws of physics and nature were suddenly circumvented, or somebody is lying. Knowing human nature, I have to believe the latter."

“And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.” ―Anaïs Nin

Discontent is the principal necessity of positive growth, but only if you do something constructive with it. Without deviation from what you’ve been doing, progress is not possible. Don’t be someone who goes through greater lengths to avoid change than you do to obtain what you desire. You must define and embrace the necessary changes that move you forward.

Your life will begin to improve when you define precisely what ‘improve’ means to you. The agonies and frustrations will start to ease only when you have something real and positive to replace them with. Be specific. Happiness is not a goal, it’s the result of a life well lived. The question is: How do you want to live going forward?

To effectively move away from an unfavorable situation, you must decide exactly where you wish to go. Create a formidable intention for yourself, and feed that intention with the passion and energy that’s in your desire for change. Go beyond your discontent for what is, and instead focus on imagining and creating the best of what’s possible. Clearly know where you wish to go, and then take the first real step that gets you there.

“Two things define you. Your patience when you have nothing, and your attitude when you have everything.”--unknown

“Our disrespect for thinking: someone sitting in a chair, gazing out of a window blankly, always described as ‘doing nothing’.”

- Alain de Botton

“When another person makes you suffer, it is because he suffers deeply within himself and his suffering is spilling over. He does not need punishment, he needs help.” -Thich Naht Hanh