The wise shepherd Nicolaos, in Sara Alexi's delightful novel, A Handful Of Pebbles explains that he contemplates three layers of meaning for his life. It is a wonderful process to go through every few days. The three layers are:

This is helpful for a lot of reasons. It reminds you of your good heart, and the bright, positive vision you hold for yourself and your world. It helps you remember your gifts and skills that you may all too often take for granted, and it brings you finally to focus on the importance of finding the good in your moment and your day.

"​One intriguing outcome of all of this is that every new thought shapes the mind that holds it. Your mind evolves and changes, adapting to everything you feed it, every minute of every day."
--Keith Blanchard

"It is important to listen to your thoughts, dispute them when they are out of line, and replace them if they are not positive, because our thinking affects our behaviour and our behaviour dictates the feedback the world gives us."
--​Nicolaos the shepherd, from Sara Alexi's Handful Of Pebbles

"​Dwell in the satisfaction of current improvement."
--Cindy Parker DeFoore

"Just like a single cell, the character of our lives is determined not by our genes but by our responses to the environmental signals that propel life."

--Bruce Lipton

​​​​​​​