cool beans

"People are often unreasonable, illogical, and self centered.
Forgive them anyway.
If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish alterior motives.
Be kind anyway
If you are successful, you will win some false friends and some true enemies.
Succeed anyway.
If you are honest and frank, people may cheat you.
Be honest and Frank anyway.
What you spend years building, someone could destroy overnight. 
Build anyway.
If you find serenity and happiness they may be jealous.
Be happy anyway.
The good you do today people will often forget tomorrow.
Do good anyway.
Give the world the best you have and it may never be enough.
Give the world the best you got anyway.
You see in the final analysis it is between you and God.
It was never between you and them anyway."

-Mother Teresa

I'm not sure what religious denomination i would align myself with (i hope saying religious denomination isn't redundant...), but this quote sure does hit the spot with what feels right in my mind and in my heart.  Those ideals and virtues; forgiveness, kindness, success, honesty, frankness, developing and building, attaining and maintaining happiness, doing what is good and right, and especially giving the world your best, truly should not be dependent on recognition from others nor on the basis of whether or not those ideals and virtues are practiced in return.  Mother Teresa said that they should be lived up to because it is between you and God.  I interpret this as between oneself and their conscience, which could be embodied as an entity such as God or simply as true, candid, unadulterated honesty with oneself.  This does not mean that they should be practiced out of fear of punishment or feeling bad, but they should be practiced simply because it feels right to do so.  I think that if i am ever unhappy or in a funk it is because i forget to keep an equilibrium of the aforementioned qualities.  Luckily right now all of them seem to be functioning like a well oiled machine.  Thank you everyone who makes me happy and motivates me. And thank you mother teresa for such a sweet quote. 

oh ps
sweet=awesome
not sweet=affectionate
and not sweet=sugary.