John Powell
John Powell
our-lives
Our lives are shaped by those who love us
bridges growth process
Growth is always a gradual process, a bridge slowly crossed and not a corner sharply turned.
feelings categories my-thoughts
To tell you my thoughts is to locate myself in a category. To tell you about my feelings is to tell you about me.
ifs-and limits enjoyment
What are the "ifs" and "buts" that limit my enjoyment of life?
lonely loneliness pace
Loneliness is the prison of the human spirit. When we are lonely, we pace back and forth in small, shut-in worlds.
trying should
We must be trying to learn who we really are rather than trying to tell ourselves who we should be.
education teacher pain
Pain is a teacher from whom we can learn much.
learning thinking enough
He who has no inclination to learn more will be very apt to think that he knows enough.
giving-up real people
When Marconi suggested the possibility of wireless transmission of sound (the radio),he was committed to a mental institution. But people like Lincoln, Edison, and Marconi were strongly motivated. So they didn't give up. They somehow knew that the only real failure is the one from which we learn nothing. They seemed to go on the assumption that there is no failure greater than the failure of not trying, and so they continued to try in the face of repeated failures.
poverty seven neighborhood
Blacks are about seven times more likely to live in neighborhoods of concentrated poverty than whites.
god lonely heart
God isn't calling us to a lonely, joyless existence with the promise of a delayed reward. God is calling us to live, to love and enjoy the challenge. God's formulas are roadmaps to freedom and peace. God is saying to us: "The only way to live is to be free. So save your heart for love and save your love for persons. Don't ever let any 'thing' own you. Don't let money or fame or power or the pursuit of pleasure put a ring in your nose and lead you around. Love persons and use things." And of course, this is the only way to live, to be free.
weekend player want
Playing is much, much harder than composing in my opinion, becoming a player. If you want to be a player for all your life either you decide not to do it professionally and just enjoy it and just do it every weekend, but if you want to be a professional musician- hardest thing I could imagine and I really wasn't capable of doing it.
grace action grace-of-god
We cannot "psychologize" the grace of God. God's actions are outside and above our human sciences.
love focus attention
Love demands that I learn how to focus my attention on the needs of those I love.