Lamb in Pastel Wool - October 22, 2009

Happiness is a by product of an effort to make someone else happy.

--Gretta Brooker Palmer

Self-centeredness aggravates the natural flow of circumstances surrounding us; too much attention on ourselves distorts whatever might be troubling us. However, focusing on others' needs diminishes what we'd perceived as our own pressing need. This is a simple principle we might all consider adopting.

None of us is free of problems. That's one of life's givens. Through their resolution we grow and ready ourselves for the next group of challenges. Each group we survive enables us to offer better assistance to someone else who will confront a similar problem. Perhaps we'd do well to see all our problems as preparation for guiding someone who will come into our life. Helping someone else is certain to lift spirits and foster happiness, but the unexpected reward is that the helper reaps even greater benefits than the one helped.

My happiness is guaranteed if I help someone else find it today.

by Karen Casey and Martha Vanceburg
from the book, The Promise of a New Day

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Lamb in Pastel Wool
5" x 8" Sennilier Oil Pastel on Black Paper

Okay, pastel is quite a departure from my normal work, but I have seen some beautiful art done in pastel. I am not comfortable with them, but have tried them from time to time. I usually blend the OPs, but for some reason, I liked the colorful strokes in this.


The Promise of a New Day

One of the World's Most Popular Collections of Daily Wisdom...
To Help You Make the Most of Each and Every Day

Every day — happy or sad, challenging or just business-as-usual — makes new demands on us. Each day brings new experiences, new tasks, and new rewards. As each day dawns, take a moment for quiet reflection and discover the promise of a new beginning and a fresh start full of optimism, hope, and joy.

Karen Casey is the best-selling author of Each Day a New Beginning: Daily Meditations for Practicing the Course, Keepers of the Wisdom, and numerous other books. She has also written two books for girls: Girls Only! and Girl to Girl. Her signature book, Each Day a New Beginning, has sold three million copies. Karen enjoys golfing and riding her Harley with her husband. She lives in Minneapolis, and Naples, Florida.

A graduate of the University of Chicago, Martha Vanceburg is the author of A New Life and co-author of Family Feelings and The Promise of a New Day. The mother of three, she lives in Minneapolis with her husband.