Reyna Espiritu

Quotes About Change "Just when I think I have learned the way to live, life changes." - Hugh Prather "Colors, like features, follow the changes of the emotions." - Pablo Picasso "A woman's mind is cleaner than a man's: She changes it more often." - Oliver Herford "It's amazing. Life changes very quickly, in a very positive way, if you let it." - Lindsey Vonn "The sky is always there for me, while my life has been going through many, many changes. When I look up the sky, it gives me a nice feeling, like looking at an old friend." - Yoko Ono "Prayer does not change God, but it changes him who prays." - Soren Kiergaard "Everything changes and, somewhere along the line, I'm changing with it." - Eric Burdon "As you begin to realize that every different type of music, everybody's individual music, has its own rhythm, life, language and heritage, you realize how life...

Quotes About Happiness "Happiness is not something ready made. It comes from your own actions." - Dalai Lama "Happiness is not something you postpone for the future; it is something you design for the present." - Jim Rohn "Some days are just bad days, that's all. You have to experience sadness to know happiness, and I remind myself that not every day is going to be a good day, that's just the way it is!" - Dita Von Teese "To enjoy good health, to bring true happiness to one's family, to bring peace to all, one must first discipline and control one's own mind. If a man can control his mind he can find the way to Enlightenment, and all wisdom and virtue will naturally come to him." - Buddha "Let us never know what old age is. Let us know the happiness time brings, not count the years." - Ausonius "Happiness radiates like the fragrance from a flower and draws all good things towards you." -...

Quotes About Life "Only I can change my life. No one can do it for me." - Carol Burnett "Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment." - Buddha "Life isn't about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself." - George Bernard Shaw "Smile in the mirror. Do that every morning and you'll start to see a big difference in your life." - Yoko Ono "Learn to enjoy every minute of your life. Be happy now. Don't wait for something outside of yourself to make you happy in the future. Think how really precious is the time you have to spend, whether it's at work or with your family. Every minute should be enjoyed and savored." - Earl Nightingale "We must let go of the life we have planned, so as to accept the one that is waiting for us." - Joseph Campbell "Be happy for this moment. This moment is your life." - Omar Khayyam ...

Quotes About Friendship "The greatest gift of life is friendship, and I have received it." - Hubert H. Humphrey "Friends show their love in times of trouble, not in happiness." - Euripides  "Share your smile with the world. It's a symbol of friendship and peace." - Christie Brinkley "One of the most beautiful qualities of true friendship is to understand and to be understood." - Lucius Annaeus Seneca  "There is nothing on this earth more to be prized than true friendship." - Thomas Aquinas "My best friend is the one who brings out the best in me." - Henry Ford  "The strong bond of friendship is not always a balanced equation; friendship is not always about giving and taking in equal shares. Instead, friendship is grounded in a feeling that you know exactly who will be there for you when you need something, no matter what or when." - Simon Sinek "A friend is someone who gives yo...

Quotes About Love "There is only one happiness in this life, to love and be loved." - George Sand  "Love yourself. It is important to stay positive because beauty comes from the inside out." - Jenn Proske "Success is no accident. It is hard work, perseverance, learning, studying, sacrifice and most of all, love of what you are doing or learning to do." - Pele  "Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply gives you courage." - Lao Tzu "Love is when the other person's happiness is more important than your own." - H. Jackson Brown, Jr. "A good teacher can inspire hope, ignite the imagination, and instill a love of learning." - Brad Henry "Let us always meet each other with smile, for the smile is the beginning of love." - Mother Teresa "Go after what you really love and find a way to make that work for you, and then you'll be a happy person....

ROBIN HOOD Robin Hood  was the legendary bandit of England who stole from the rich to help the poor. The stories about Robin appealed to common folk because he stood up against—and frequently outwitted—people in power. Furthermore, his life in the forest—hunting and feasting with his fellow outlaws, coming to the assistance of those in need—seemed like a great and noble adventure. Early Sources.  The earliest known mention of Robin Hood is in William Langland's 1377 work called  Piers Plowman,  in which a character mentions that he knows "rimes of Robin Hood." This and other references from the late 1300s suggest that Robin Hood was well established as a popular  legend  by that time. One source of that legend may lie in the old French custom of celebrating May Day. A character called Robin des Bois, or Robin of the Woods, was associated with this spring festival and may have been transplanted to England—with a slight name change. May Day celebrat...

The Lady Of Stavoren (A Dutch Legend) By: Aaron Shepard If you take the ferry across the Zuider Zee to the northern province of Friesland, you will land at a small town called Stavoren. Today it is little more than a ferry landing, a brief stop in the journey north. You’d never guess this was once one of the great port cities of Europe. Yet so it was, many centuries ago. And so it might be still, if not for the choice made by a lady. The fine harbor at Stavoren welcomed the ships of many countries, and many countries were visited by the ships of Stavoren. So rich and proud became the city’s merchants, they fitted their doors with handles and hinges of gold. Among these merchants was a young widow, richest of the rich and proudest of the proud. They called her the Lady of Stavoren. The Lady would stop at nothing to show herself better than her fellow merchants. She filled her palace with the most costly goods from wherever her ships made port. But her rivals always foun...

The Stone in the Temple A Muslim Legend Retold by Aaron Shepard Printed in  Cricket,  June 1995, and Australia’s  School Magazine,  Oct. 1995 For more treats and resources, visit  Aaron Shepard  at www.aaronshep.com Copyright © 1995, 2017 by Aaron Shepard. May not be published or posted without permission. PREVIEW: When four tribes each claim a certain honor, Muhammad must find a way to satisfy them all. GENRE: Legends CULTURE: Islamic (Muslim), Arabian, Middle Eastern THEME: Resolving conflicts AGES: 7 and up LENGTH: 400 words “The sons of Makhzum should raise the Black Stone,” declared one of the men in the circle. “It is our right as foremost of the tribes.” “Who gave you such a position?” demanded another man. “The sons of Jumah will raise it!” “Not while the sons of Abdu Manaf stand here,” said another. “The honor should be ours.” “Then you will have to fight for it,” cried another. “None but the sons of Abdul-Dar shall rai...

The Harvest That Never Came The Harvest That Never Came  (A Swedish Legend) Told by Aaron Shepard My dearest Arild, I promised to wait for you forever, but I fear I will not be allowed to. My father says you will never return, and he has chosen another man to be my husband. Though I pleaded with him, he has already set the marriage date. I will love you always. Your faithful Thale Arild Ugerup, son of a noble Danish family, sat on his cot, reading the letter by the dim light of his prison cell.  How cruel the tricks played by war,  he thought, his eyes filling with tears. Though Arild and his family were nobles of Denmark, they had long lived peaceably in Sweden. When King Erik of Sweden was crowned, Arild had been one of his honored guests. But then Denmark and Sweden declared war on each other, and Arild was drafted into the Danish navy. He was captured in battle and imprisoned by King Erik. Arild’s childhood sweetheart, Thale Thott, had...

The Most Precious Thing in the World  The Most Precious Thing in the World (A Dutch Legend) Told by Aaron Shepard The old sea captain was not sure he had heard right. “What did you say, my Lady?” The Lady stopped pacing about her parlor and looked at the captain in annoyance. Many were the merchants rich and proud in this great port city of Stavoren. But this woman, called by everyone “the Lady of Stavoren,” was richest and proudest of them all. “I said I want to hire you and your ship to bring me the most precious thing in the world.” “But what is the most precious thing?” asked the captain. “And where do I find it?” “If I knew,” said the Lady coldly, “I would already have obtained it. I ask you to discover and bring it to me. I will make sure you have ample gold to buy it, whatever it turns out to be.” “Forgive me, my Lady,” said the captain, “but I still don’t understand.” The Lady sat facing him. “Look around you, Captain. Have you seen a more magnificen...

The Legend Of  B loody Mary  The legend of Bloody Mary is centuries-old and appears in many folkloric   variations . In the West, she borrows her name from Queen Mary I, the infamous monarch known as a burner of heretics. To summer campers and slumber parties, though, Bloody Mary appears in bathroom mirrors — not as a murderous queen, but a howling woman drenched in blood. Sometimes, she’s said to be clutching a dead, blue baby. Other times, her arms are empty and outstretched as the conjurer taunts her: “I stole your baby,” or “I killed your baby.” In any variation, the ritual is as macabre as it is childish. But while most children outgrow the game even before outgrowing camp, there is a strange, sad, and very true story wound up in this myth.  Queen Mary I was born unwanted. She was the only living child of Henry VIII and his first wife, Catherine of Aragon. While loved by her parents, and by all accounts remarkably intelligent, the fact that she was bor...

A legend from Spain – The Bell of Huesca Spain – The Bell of Huesca In the year 1.136, Ramiro considered timely to receive advice from how be able to end with the pressures that were exercising to him the nobility of Navarra and Castilla. To this end, it sent to Sant Ponce a messenger who was received by the abbot of that monastery while he last was working in the orchard. The abbot was beheading in that moment some cabbages that he were projecting of other and gave as response to the consulting of Ramiro II, that this messenger would say to his master, only what he had seen. Arrived the advice to Ramiro, he understood it so perfectly that quickly he summoned to Courts in the City of Huesca, to the noble and rich revolted men, making them to believe that between the motives of that summons, it was existing the mind of fusing a bell whose sounds were perceived by ear in all his dominances. The pride and pretense of the many rich men and nobility of that then, caused that attended in bul...

A Legend From Iceland – Odin’s ravens
 Iceland – Odin’s ravens
 Hugin and Munin
Fly every day
Over all the world;
I worry for Hugin
That he might not return,
But I worry more for Munin. In Norse mythology, Odin; father of the gods and ruler of Asgard; had a pair of ravens named Huginn and Muninn. Their job was to fly around the world during the day and return to Odin in the evening with news of what was happening on Earth (Midgard). Their names mean “thought” and “mind” (or “memory”) respectively, and it’s believed that they represented these aspects of Odin’s daily meditation. While the lord of gods meditated, his thought and mind ventured out to open his consciousness to the goings on of the world under his protection. Huginn and Muninn also represent the ideas of the fylgia; a supernatural companion that takes animal form in order to accompany a person in relation to their fate or fortune; and hamingja; the personification of the good fortune of a person or family, often in shape-sh...

A Legend From Ireland – Finn Mac Cuhaill Ireland – Finn Mac Cuhaill As a seven-year-old boy, Finn Mac Cuhaill met on the banks of the Boyne with a seer called Finneigeas. Finneigeas had dedicated the past seven years of his life to catching the Salmon of Knowledge, which swam in the river and would impart the knowledge of the world on the first person to taste it. While Finn was there, Finneigeas caught the salmon, and with much joy put it on the spit to cook, entrusting the cooking to Finn but warning him not to taste it. After a time, Finn went to see if the fish was cooked, however, he touched it with his thumb and burnt himself, leaving a blister. To ease the pain, he put his thumb in his mouth, and thus became the first person to taste the salmon. When Finneigeas looked at the boy’s face, he saw the wisdom shining in it, and knew that the salmon was no good to him. Ever after that, if Finn needed to know something, he put his thumb into his mouth and the knowledge came to him.

A Legend From United – Kingdom – The Loch Ness Monster United – Kingdom – The Loch Ness Monster The Loch Ness Monster, or Nessie, as it has been nicknamed, is among the most well-known urban legends of modern times and it is among the greatest points of interest for cryptozoologists – scientists who study animals that have not been proven to exist. The first documented sighting of Nessie was in the year 565 when Saint Columba saved a swimmer from becoming its dinner. For nearly 1500 years following, the Loch Ness Monster had appeared in stories, but it is unknown which ones were eyewitness accounts and which ones were invented solely for entertainment purposes. Legends of the monster lived on as they were passed from generation to generation, but the creature’s popularity reached an unprecedented height in 1933. That year, a new road was constructed beside the loch. Travelers reported more sightings than ever before. Later that year the infamous Surgeon’s Photo was published, depicting...

A Legend From Norway – Selma Norway – Selma Close to Telemark, Norway, is a Lake called Seljordsvatnet. It is twelve miles long and one and a half miles wide.Like Loch Ness is was formed by glaciers during the last ice age. There have been reports of a large creature living in the lake since the 1750’s.Eyewitness reports, generally describe the creature, dubbed Selma by the locals, as a 30 to 45 foot serpent like creature. A documented account of an encounter with the creature dates back to 1880 when Bjorn Bjorge, and his mother Gunhild, were said to have cut a creature that attacked them in half. According to the document the lower portion of the creature squirmed back into the lake while the front half was left to rot on the shore. In the summer of 1918, Karl Karlsson walked down to the bridge at Sandnes to fish.Suddenly he saw an animal in the water. It came very close ,moving very fast and Karl Karlsson became frightened and ran away ,leaving his fishing rod.. He described the head...

A Legend From Luxemburg – Melusina Luxemburg – Melusina Melusina is said to have been the wife of the founder of Luxembourg, Count Siegfried. When they married, she had one particular request, namely that Siegfried must leave her alone for one full day and night every month, and that he should not ask or try to find out what she was doing. Of course, Melusina was such a beautiful girl, that Siegfried could not refuse her this one small wish, and all went well for years and years, when on the first Wednesday of the month, Melusina would retire into her chambers in the “Casemates,” a network of caverns underneath the city, not to be seen again until early light on Thursday. But one day, Siegfried’s curiosity got the better of him. Wondering what on earth she might be doing alone all the time, he peeped through the keyhole, and was shocked to see that Melusina wa . s lying in the bathtub, with a fishtail hanging over the rim. As you all know, mermaids like Melusina, have a very keen sixth...