So get a few laughs and do the best you can. Don't have an ideal to work for. That's like riding towards the mirage of a lake. - Will Rogers

Human societies seem to go from crisis to crisis, fraught with injustice, oppression, and deception. But comedy is a gift of the human spirit. Sometimes it is the only weapon we have against official absurdity. Doesn't it often seem as though those who most clearly understand the dangers that face us are the ones who can play the most wholeheartedly?

Laughter and play don't mean carelessness. Each of us must make our way through these serious times, carefully ordering our priorities and doing what we need to do to safeguard our spiritual growth. One temptation that besets many of us is to take ourselves so seriously that we begin to attach great weight to unimportant gestures. Humor is a wonderful tool for shaping us back down to size.

Sharing play is sometimes the only way we can touch another human being. Let us be grateful for the gift of true humor wherever we encounter it. It gives us strength to continue.

There is guidance for each of us, and by lowly listening, we shall hear the right word. - Ralph Waldo Emerson

Perhaps it was only yesterday or the day before that we doubted our value to society, or to our family or friends. We often lose our direction. That's normal and consistent with the human condition. However, the length of time we spend floundering, uncertain of ourselves, is proportionate to the time it takes us to acknowledge the guide within. We need not be lost or full of doubt for long.

Going within ourselves may not be a spontaneous reaction for many of us, but we can learn to respond in this way. And when we're open to the inner urging and willing to follow it, we'll discover the benefits. All that's asked of us is the decision to listen.

Everyone has a talent. What is rare is the courage to follow the talent to the dark place where it leads. - Erica Jong

Our lives are purposeful and the dreams that mold our actions or tease us down new avenues are not coincidental. Our dreams are messages from the inner self, who urges us to fulfill the purpose for which our talents have been given. We each have talents to be employed in a fashion uniquely our own; however, all too many of us opt for the half-life, never fully giving our attention to the occasion at hand.

We can never know our talents or when to utilize them when we pass through life on the fringe of activities. We cut off our awareness of the inner urging when we don't enter into the present, when we step back from ourselves, when we refrain from offering rapt attention to the "talent scouts" among us. And we'll never experience the joy we deserve until we favor the inhabitants of our world with our talent.

. . . there are many sham diamonds in this life which pass for real, and vice versa, many real diamonds which go unvalued. - W.M. Thackeray

It's high praise to say that someone is "genuine -- the real thing." We use the image of jewelry when we talk about character: "Pure gold -- 14 karat -- rings true -- a diamond of the first water -- a pearl." The qualities of beauty and rarity make gems precious to us, and by using that real personal worth is equally beautiful, and equally rare.

Yet it's within everyone's grasp. We all agree on the valuable character traits. We all agree on the valuable character traits: honesty, loyalty, openness, courage, humor, and the capacity for love. Everyone has them, and everyone can have them. Imitations won't do.

It is possible to be different and still be all right. There can be two - or more - answers to the same question, and all can be right. - Anne Wilson Shaef

We're accustomed to thinking there are two sides to a subject: right/wrong, Democrat/Republican, walk/don't walk. This binary mode of thinking may lead us to disregard many possible solutions to our problems. "That's what makes ball games," we say, as though life were a competitive game. Relationships are an area where many of us fail to recognize that a question can have many right answers.

We may find ourselves locked into behavior patterns that guarantees we will be unhappy. We may set ourselves up as victims: "Everything happens to me!" or as bullies: "They all obey me, but no one likes me!"

If we look at our own part, we often see that if we had behaved differently in a situation, the outcome might be have been different. We often act as though we were programmed in a simply binary mode, yet we have the power to choose a new mode at any moment.