This is what my birthday inspired!

The written word has power.

Words have the power to heal, to uplift and to motivate. All too often we don’t appreciate their power – at best disregarding the strong positive impact they can have, and at worst, mis-using them through anything from complaints and negative ideas to insults... (and if you look closely, even spelling mistakes ;-)

What type of words work to make a personal change, on one level, and that can go on to make a global change on another? The expressions and sayings of the world’s visionaries like Ghandi, Seneca, Mark Twain, St Augustin, The Dalai Lama, Lao Tse, Martin Luther King and many others are a great place to start. Regardless of religion or country, we all have our secret idols that inspire us to live a better life, and give us the courage to go on with our projects.

In the news every day we hear story after story of sadness, violence, hurt and pain, that reinforce a sense of desperation, suspicion, mistrust and general helplessness in all members of the community alike. It appears to me that if a little more effort went into focusing on and reinforcing the good, the joyful and the visionary, then individually and as a community, we all may find the courage to take a little more responsibility for our actions, and dare ourselves all to fix objectives that can improve our own daily situations, as well as those of others.

So let me take some of the expressions of the world's great visionaries and give them to you from my perspective. I'm not the first nor will I be the last person to do this - but hopefully my version will inspire you in some way! In any case, that's the goal!