There is no real advice in this phrase. However, the fact that it is used to describe a situation that is very difficult with no apparent solution, implies that it is a reality that all situations have to be reckoned with and therefore, when you are “between a rock and a hard place”,…

One of Stephen Covey's Seven Habits of Highly Effective People is “being proactive.” Another way to put this is to choose rather than accept. So often we say, “I have no choice”, when we actually do have options. We may not like the choices and their foreseen results but there are…

Cicero, Aristotle, Plutarch and Chaucer and others all said words to this effect. A humorous gloss comes from the movie Klondike Annie where Mae West says when given the choice of two evils, “I'll choose the one I never tried before.” 1 Thessalonians 5:22…

Fox repeats this call over and over: “Keep your testimony…for your worship in the spirit and in the truth, that Christ Jesus hath set up” (Works, 8:34); “keep up your testimony in the light, power, and spirit of God, for the worship that Christ set up above sixteen hundred years since, in spirit and in truth…which is a worship that cannot be shaken.” (8:84) This is a testimony that the Quakers had before the peace testimony was formulated in 1660, and I think in Fox’s mind it was the most…

Simplicity is one of the traditional Quaker Testimonies.  Quakers recognize that “a simple lifestyle is [a] freely chosen . . . source of strength.”[i]  The assertion of freedom to choose is central in Quaker perspectives. For example, Quakers are encouraged to “not be persuaded into buying…

Fox repeats this call over and over: "Keep your testimony...for your worship in the spirit and in the truth, that Christ Jesus hath set up" (Works, 8:34); "keep up your testimony in the light, power, and spirit of God, for the worship that Christ set up above sixteen hundred years since, in spirit and in truth,...which is a worship that cannot be shaken." (8:84) This is a testimony that the Quakers had before the peace testimony was formulated in 1660, and I think…

Originally recorded in the 1600s, this proverb has its exact opposite in the phrase, “you can't teach old dogs new tricks.” Both sayings are used more to justify a choice - trying to learn…

Abe Lincoln, Mark Twain and many others get credit for these words. As the idea has been around since pre-biblical Greek society, it is no wonder many people have said it, or something like it. The opposite seems ludicrous: Our words are more important and honest than our actions and choices. “Deeds are fruits…

I am unaware of anyone completing and publishing a project quite like this one. But I did stumble across an Amazon ad for the best seller, Until Today. I was humbled! The book is described as “365 daily devotionals that support the time-honoured adage, ‘Why put off until tomorrow what you can do…

First published on The Empty Path. Many of us are chronically distressed by the suffering we see around us. It confronts us in the 24/7 news cycle, in social media, in what we pass on the street every day. We live with a longing to be rid of the pain and guilt that we experience in witnessing all of this…