The only survivor of a shipwreck washed up on a small, uninhabited island. She prayed feverishly for God to rescue her, and every day she scanned the horizon for help, but none seemed forthcoming.

Exhausted, she eventually managed to build a little hut out of driftwood to protect herself from the elements and to store the few possessions she had managed to save in the high seas disasaster.

Then one day, after scavenging for food, she arrived home to find her little hut in flames, with huge billows of smoke rolling up to the sky.

The worst had happened; everything was lost. She was stung with grief and anger.

"God, after all I've been through, how could you do this to me!" she cried.

Mum and Dad were watching TV when Mum said, “I’m tired, and it’s getting late. I think I’ll go to bed”.

She went to the kitchen to make sandwiches for the next day’s lunches, rinsed out the out the popcorn bowls, took meat out of the freezer for supper the following evening, checked the cereal box levels, filled the sugar container, put spoons and bowls on the table, and started the coffeepot for brewing next morning.

She then put some wet clothes into the dryer, put a load of clothes in the wash, ironed a shirt, and secured a loose button.

She picked up the newspapers strewn on the floor, picked up the game pieces left on the table, and put the telephone book back into the drawer. She watered the plants, emptied a waste-paper basket, and hung up a towel to dry.

She yawned and stretched and headed for the bedroom.

Once upon a time, somewhere in post-war Eastern Europe, there was a great famine in which people jealously hoarded whatever food they could find, hiding it even from their friends and neighbors.

One day a wandering soldier came into a village and began asking questions as if he planned to stay for the night.

"There's not a bite to eat in the whole province," he was told. "Better keep moving on."

"Oh, I have everything I need," he said. "In fact, I was thinking of making some stone soup to share with all of you."

He pulled an iron cauldron from his wagon, filled it with water, and built a fire under it. Then, with great ceremony, he drew an ordinary-looking stone from a velvet bag and dropped it into the water.

March 14, 2011, Susan notes: this story dedicated today to the people of Japan, and to all others around the world facing hardship, challenges and/or violence.

One night I had a dream. I dreamed that I was walking along the sandy beach with God.

I am quite thankful that as we walked hand in hand, God showed me His infinite patience by not throwing me into the sea 'coz I must have asked Him "Are we there yet?" a million times.

At a certain point in our journey, I looked back and saw very interesting shapes stamped on the sand. I asked the Lord "Lord, why is that set of footprints laid all straight and deep?"

He answered "Those are mine, unchanging and steady". I saw another set beside His that were going in different directions, sometimes right, then left, then all of a sudden goes around and goes back again.

Susan notes: I love the daily messages I get from the Daily Om. This one was a great reminder to take it easy on myself, and thus to create more positive energy in my body and mind...

One of the key components of human consciousness that most of us need to address and change is our tendency to be hard on ourselves. When we are hard on ourselves for any reason, we send our bodies the message that we are not good enough.

We do this in ways that are both overt and subtle, and half the work sometimes is recognizing that we are doing it at all.

For example, if we find it difficult to graciously accept compliments, this is probably a sign that we tend to be hard on ourselves.

Other ways in which we express this tendency include never feeling satisfied with a job well done, always wanting to be and do better, and getting mad at ourselves for getting sick.

A little girl walked to and from school daily.

Though the weather that morning was questionable and clouds were forming, she made her daily trek to school.

As the afternoon progressed, the winds whipped up, along with lightning.

The mother of the little girl felt concerned that her daughter would be frightened as she walked home from school. She also feared the electrical storm might harm her child.

Full of concern, the mother got into her car and quickly drove along the route to her child's school.

As she did, she saw her little girl walking along.

At each flash of lightning, the child would stop, look up, and smile.

Here’s another one from The Daily Om.

Each and every one of us has a story to tell and they are all important.

It's easy to forget sometimes that everyone has a story to tell if we take the time to listen. We are so accustomed to hearing the stories of people in the news that we sometimes lose track of the fact that the random stranger on the bus also has a fascinating story about where they came from and how they got to be where they are.