I love this line, which comes from a quote by Melodie Beattie, which reads in its entirety:

“Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend.”

And I would add this thought — that without gratitude, you can turn any paradise into hell.

Without gratitude, you will always walk away from the table still starving — no matter what measure of abundance has been laid before you.

Without gratitude, every job is the worst job on earth, every spouse is deficient, every friend lets you down, every home is on the wrong street, every gift is the wrong size, every novel is full of typos, every mattress is uncomfortable, every cup of coffee is too weak.

Without gratitude, every choice you ever made will always feel like the wrong choice.

Without gratitude, summers will always be too hot; winters will always be too cold. The music will always be too loud, the movie will always suck, the teenagers will always be too rude.

Without gratitude, people who vote or worship differently from you will always be monsters in your eyes. Without gratitude, you will always feel you were born into the wrong family. Without gratitude, the waitress will always be too slow, and you will always get the worst seat on the bus. Without gratitude, every driver on the road except you is an idiot.

Without gratitude, life is The Misery.

These three things are so true…

1) There is no happiness without gratitude
2) There is no transformation without self-accountability
3) There is no peace without forgiveness

But first among those — the alchemy of all alchemies — is gratitude.

If we learn nothing else while we’re here, then, we must learn how to say THANK YOU.

#quote #Melodie #Beattie #Gratitude #life #denial #acceptance #confusion #clarity #meal #feast #stranger #friend #paradise #hell #starving #job #worst #deficient #friend #home #street #gift #novel #typos #mattress #comfortable #summers #hot #winters #cold #music #loud #movie #teenagers #rude

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Willard Manus (born September 28, 1930) is a Los Angeles-based novelist, playwright, and journalist. His original play “Dietrich” just enjoyed a limited Off Broadway engagement at the famed Triad Theatre to packed houses and excellent reviews.

Accompanied by pianist Russell Daisey and starring Cindy Marinangel, “Dietrich” is a based on a true story. Set in May 1960, the play takes place when Marlene Dietrich returned to the Berlin stage for the first time since fleeing the Hitler regime in the 1930’s.

Inside her dressing room at the Tatiana Palast Theater, Dietrich weighs whether to go through with the live performance despite threats on her life by Nazi sympathizers who resent her for having spent much of World War II entertaining American soldiers on the front lines. To them, Dietrich is a turncoat; a traitor who deserves to be shot and killed on stage.

Willard Manus is a playwright, journalist and novelist. He is a member of the playwrights/director’s unit of The Actors Studio. His most recent plays are “Joe and Marilyn: A Love Story,” “Frank and Ava” (now a motion picture) and “Who Killed Comrade Rabbit?” His best known book is Mott the Hoople (1966), the novel from which the British 1970s hard rock band derived their name. Manus was born in New York. He is the author of This Way to Paradise: Dancing on the Tables, a memoir of life in Lindos, Rhodes, Greece, from the 1960s to the 1990s. Additionally he has had a dozen other books published, most recently a young adult novel, A Dog Called Leka, which deals with a young lad sailing the Aegean islands in the company of an exceptional dog. More than two dozen of his plays have been produced in Los Angeles, regionally and in Europe. He has been a member of the Los Angeles Film Critics Association since 1981.

Cindy Marinangel (Marlene Dietrich) is a Lifetime Member of The Actors Studio and a graduate of the Chicago Second City Conservatory. Marinangel was recently seen in “Beverly Hills Christmas,” a holiday film starring actor Dean Cain that airs seasonally on UPtv. She is a voice over talent, an avid ballroom dancer, animal advocate and producer of film, theatre and dance shows.

Russell Daisey is an internationally acclaimed pianist, singer and songwriter. He performed at The First Hiroshima International Peace Summit (on stage with the Dalai Lama); the Palais des Congres in Paris; before President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton; as well as Nobel Peace Prize Laureates Ellie Wiesel, Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Betty Williams.

For bookings reviews and inquiries:
https://www.dietrichplay.com/

Works Written by Willard Manus:

Journalism
· Columns

Southern California Correspondent for Playbill On-Line (1995-2000).

Monthly columnist (theatre, opera, books, movies, jazz & blues) What’s Up Magazine &, Lively-Arts.com , Total Theater, The Outlook, Daily News, North-East Newspapers, Pasadena Star News, and many others

Books
· Novels

Love Under Aegean Skies – Amazon E-Book

Mott the Hoople, McGraw-Hill Co & Pinnacle Books – Amazon E-Book

· Fiction

The Fighting Men, Panjandrum Books – Amazon E-Book

The Fixers, Ace Books – E-Book

Connubial Bliss, Panjandrum Books – Amazon E-Book

The Pigskin Rabbi, Breakaway Books – Amazon E-Book

· Children’s

The Island Kids, Anglo-Hellenic Publishing Co (Picture Book)

· Young adult

The Proud Rebel, Ridge Press/Teenage Book Club

Sea Treasure, Doubleday

Mystery of the Flooded Mine, Doubleday

A Dog Called Leka, Viveca Smith Publishing Co – Amazon E-Book

· Non-fiction

This Way to Paradise–Dancing on the Tables, Lycabettus Press

Plays (premiered)
Actual Productions: Bon Appetit (Los Angeles, 1984, director Bert Rosario)

Diamonds (Los Angeles, 1985, director Richmond Shepard)

Hemingway–On the Edge (Los Angeles, 1993, director Lonny Chapman)

In My Father’s House (Los Angeles, 2000, director Jerome Guardino)

Junk Food (Los Angeles, 1981, director Rick Edelstein)

MM at 58 (Los Angeles, 1989, director Gary Guidinger)

The Bleachers

The Deepest Hunger (Los Angeles, 1984, director Lonny Chapman)

The Electronic Lincoln (Los Angeles, 1992, director Susan Deitz)

Their Finest Hour–Churchill and Murrow (Woodstock, director Nicola Sheara)

The Kendo Master (Los Angeles, 1981, director Sab Shimono)

The Last Laugh (Los Angeles, 1999, director John Lant)

The Love Boutique (Los Angeles, 1989, director Walter Olkiewicz)

The Penis Monologues (Los Angeles, 2002, director Louis Fantasia)

The Yard

Man in the Sun

Porkchops

The Call (Los Angeles, 2006, director Gregory Crafts)

Reap the Whirlwind (Los Angeles, 2000, director Doug Lowry)

Walt-Sweet Bird of Freedom (Los Angeles, 1984, director Lonny Chapman)

Central Avenue–The Musical (Los Angeles, 2007, director Louis Fantasia).

“In My Father’s House”

“Berlin Cowboys”

“Bird Lives”

“Prez, the Lester Young Story”

Frank & Ava”

Joe & Marilyn, a Love Story”

“The Life and Loves of Marlene Dietrich:

The Wicked, Wicked, Mae West”

and other plays…..

Television
Boys Will Be Boys, Fox TV.

Secrets of Midland Heights, CBS-TV.

Shannon, CBS-TV.

Too Close For Comfort, ABC-TV.

Translations
Leka de hond (A dog called Leka), translated by Gerrit Brand, Uitgeverij Nobelman, 2012.

With Artistic Regards,

Cindy Marinangel

DietrichPlay.com
CindyMarinangel.com
EternalWaltzFilm.net

“Marinangel’s excellent performance made me catch myself many times thinking that I was watching the ‘real’ Marlene.”
— Petra Schuermann (Germanworldonline.com)

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Last month, I mentioned that Spring had sprung, I might have been wrong, as
we still saw the snow cover our daffodils when I was in Montauk with my
family during Spring break.

Montauk is so beautiful in the colder weather, it’s still a paradise… the
beach is exciting and hiking in some of the great NATURE Montauk locations
always is impressive and quiet. A great getaway. I love my Montauk Manor,
but the Good News is that everywhere in Montauk have something special to
offer to stay and to eat.. and let’s not forget the wonderful library for
the family. Montauk is God’s Country. Just the smell of the fresh salt
air fills your blood cells with new life and the toxins with run away! If
you never have never been to Montauk, everyone, any SEASON IS A TREAT IN
MONTAUK!

One outstanding event I can assure you is the Montauk Music Festival on May
17th to the 20th. http://www.montaukmusicfestival.com, the team from the
Montauk Sun founded this festival. As a former CBS and PBS Production
executive and musician having been involved with 1000’s of Award Winning TV
and Events, I want to say that this festival is exciting and shares the
wonderful talent that makes the Hamptons such a special place. So if you
want to have a great time and get away, this is an event for you.

Our feature film, What Does Peace Mean to You? is in final edit and it is
very exciting. We want to have a soft release in on September 21, when we
hold our International Peace Day Events in Times Square we invite you to
join us as there with me many wonderful events happening. Please go to
www.peacedayparty.org and support this
nonprofit outreach. 1.6 Billion people are aware, all 193 countries of the
United Nations agreed for the UN International Day of Peace. Good News
Corporation has been supporting it with events that include the Vigil 4
Peace and Ecology in Central Park on September 16th
http://www.vigil4peace.org/ and our Times Square Duffy Square event on
September 21 for 16 years.

NEW SHOWS on, www.goodnewsplanet.TV.
(NOTE: Over 40% of our content is health and wellness) We are celebrating
our 20th Anniversary this year as we were establish on July 4, 1998.

” The Worlds’ Fare” – Did you know that the 1965 World’s Fair was hosted in
Flushing Meadows-Corona Park, Queens, New York and was themed “Peace Through
Understanding” Millions of visitors attended the fair to explore the
countries that were represented from around the world. Now, more than 50
years later, Schneps Communications reimagined one of the most iconic fairs
by hosting “The World’s Fare” at CitiField on April 28 & 29th.

The 2018 Tom Ridge Awards – The Federal Enforcement Homeland Security
Foundation. Honoring the courageous men and women who wear the uniform in
Federal Law Enforcement held at the Plaza on April 23.

Shanghai Streets and Architecture – Good News goes to China and shares some
of the beauty of the people, architecture and life. Go to
www.goodnewschina.TV we also broadcast in
China on YouKu. Milestone Broadcast Corporation, MBC, has been working with
the Chinese and Asian community since our establishment in 1985. We have
done hundreds of projects with the Asian communities and other ethnic groups
as a full service marketing and advertising company. We are here to help
you if you have a need.

Travel Plans this Summer? Don’t let RA (Rheumatoid Arthritis) Symptoms stop
you . Remember over 40% of Good News is Health and Wellness.

Thought for the Day – “You Might Not Get Over It, But You’ll Get Through
It.” We share a thought for the day everyday Monday through Friday o our
site and social network.

www.goodnewsbroadcast.com and
www.goodnewsplanet.Tv created over 5,000
shows of people doing life affirming work that proves the GOOD IN THE WORLD.

Our Good News Mission for 20 years has been to find, receive, or create Life
Affirming, Thought Provoking Good News, Events, Products and Service and
share them with the WORLD.

All We are is What We are With Each Other.

Peace and Love,

Paul Sladkus and our Good News & Peace Team.

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Birds, birds & more birds.  They are out of this world! 

Spectacular!  

https://www.youtube.com/embed/REP4S0uqEOc

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