Fly Life on Free Wings, and Sing to its Glory. - jlh

Fly Life on Free Wings, and Sing to its Glory. - jlh

Like a bird in flight, your life can soar above the troubles of the world. Breathe deep, choose, and break the shackles of your past.

Like a Newborn

A newborn does not have worry, or stress, or anger, because they have not yet learned those things. Consider what life would be like if you could forget all the past resentments and perceived offenses that color your thinking and your emotions. Buddhists call that state "beginner mind" - an opening to experience life without the jaundiced filter of past disappointments.

Mark Twain: It's not the size of the dog in the fight, it's the size of the fight in the dog.

It's not the size of the dog in the fight, it's the size of the fight in the dog.
- Mark Twain

The fight is with life. Life is a constant opponent, and an overpowering adversary if attacked directly. The successful and happy ones dance lightly with life - a parry here, a feint there - always engaged, but never in the direct line of life's heaviest blows.

Self-respect is not a function of size, age, or wealth. - Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Self-respect is not a function of size, age, or wealth. Breathe deep, sing loud and sweet, "I am me, I am unique, I am magnificent."
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Lao Tzu: Silence is a source of great strength

Silence is a source of great strength.
- Lao Tzu

Mary Anne Radmacher: Living in the present moment

Living in the present moment requires discretion toward memory. Without memory we’d have amnesia. What good would there be in that? Offer discretion and discernment for our past with a broad spectrum of forgiveness. As for our present moment, delight. And dedication to remain fully present to all the possibility.
- Mary Anne Radmacher

Helen Keller: One can never consent to creep when one feels an impulse to soar

One can never consent to creep when one feels an impulse to soar.
- Helen Keller

Spread your wings - TODAY. Why wait?

Life only appears to be rushing toward us

Life only
appears to be
rushing toward us
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

"Oh my God!" we scream as our fragile serenity is overwhelmed by the impending vagaries of LIFE appearing as an unleashed Niagara Falls bearing down upon us.

What if it were only an illusion? Perhaps life is not as threatening as it appears. Perhaps the greatest threat to our serenity is our fear of the future - our fear of the unknown. Perhaps, as Franklin D. Roosevelt said, "The Only Thing We Have to Fear Is Fear Itself."

Mary Anne Radmacher: Leverage opportunity AND seize joy

Manage the remarkable balance between acting from your heart and close to your gifts with completing the obligations that your labor and tasks require of you. Leverage opportunity AND seize joy.
- Mary Anne Radmacher

7 Secrets of Happy Couples

7 Secrets of Happy Couples
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Why do some couples stay happy together for a lifetime, while others are in conflict almost from the beginning?

Part of the answer is compatibility - making the initial choice of a partner with whom you share common values. Equally much, however, depends upon the choices each partner chooses to make during the relationship. Here are seven choices made by happy couples:

1. Trust: Suspicion and jealousy are the death knell of any relationship. If the other is going to cheat or otherwise dishonor the relationship, suspicion and jealousy will not prevent it, and such a relationship is fatally flawed in any case. Unwarranted suspicion and jealousy create misery in a surprising number of relationships. If you want to live happily, trust your partner completely. If they dishonor your trust, deal with the situation then. In the meanwhile, you will have been happy.

2. Open Communication: Tell the truth, tell the whole truth. If you didn't want to share your whole life with your partner, why are you together? If you make a mistake, admit it. If you have doubts, talk about them. Secrets and lies kill a relationship. With truth and openness anything is possible. Even if something is unforgivable, it is better to deal with it quickly.

3. Honoring the other's point-of-view: People disagree, couples disagree. Understanding that the two partners in a couple remain individuals is crucial to a happy relationship. Why would you expect that you and your partner should agree on everything? Honor that one of you is a Republican and the other a Democrat. Honor that one of you is a vegetarian and the other loves a great steak.

4. Self-Confidence: Co-dependence is another frequent cause of failed relationships. Happy couples know that they don't need each other. Each partner is a completely whole and valid individual who has entered into a voluntary partnership. Neither "owns" the other, nor "can't live without" the other. Each has their own interests and friends, as well as having mutual interests and friends.

5. Generosity: Greed and selfishness kill relationships. True love is generous in spirit. Mostly, generosity is not about material things, although that is also important. To have a happy relationship, be generous of your time, your love, and your attention.

6. Forgiveness: Resentments and thoughts of revenge and vengeance have no place in a happy relationship. Happy couples forgive each other completely for everything the other has ever done or failed to do - no exceptions.

7. Gratitude: Happy couples are continuously grateful for each other. Every day there are a myriad of reasons to be grateful for your partner. Find those reasons each day, and thank your partner every day.

The Buddha: Hate is never conquered by hate, Hate is only conquered by love.

Hate is never conquered by hate,
Hate is only conquered by love.
- The Buddha

Mary Anne Radmacher: Some of the freshest lessons I learned from my dog

Some of the freshest lessons I learned from my dog:

It’s always a good time for a walk.

Love doesn’t lie, can’t pretend, doesn’t withhold.

I have to really like you to share my food with you.

- Mary Anne Radmacher

Dmitri Bilgere: Changing Your Life 20% at a Time

Changing Your Life 20% at a Time
- Dmitri Bilgere

Lifestyle changes can be very hard to make, but I'm about to share with you a way you can make them a LOT more easily.

I'm talking about the changes you tell yourself you should make, like...

- "I really should go to the gym regularly," or

- "I really should be a vegetarian," or

- "I really should be more thrifty," or

You may even really want to make these lifestyle changes... but are daunted by how hard they are to do them "100%."

But here's some mighty good news about making lifestyle changes:

Much of the time, you can get 80% of the benefits of a lifestyle change with 20% of the effort.

Put another way... 20% of the work you'd do to create a lifestyle change usually gives you about 80% of the benefits of it.

And that's a huge thing to understand. (Don't worry if it doesn't make sense yet -- I'll explain it fully in this email.)

In almost any lifestyle change you want to make, there are things you can do that are both

- Easy to do, and

- Have the greatest effect.

These are the "low-hanging fruit" of lifestyle change. They are the things you can do that take 20% of your effort... But that give 80% of the results.

And here's the big "take-away" for this email:

These "low-hanging fruit" are the things you need to focus on, if you want to make lifestyle changes.

For instance....

SAVING MONEY

While it's easy to get caught up in low-return money-saving behaviors (like disinfecting and re-using plastic kitchen bags), such behaviors are in that last 80% of effort that get the 20% of results.

To get the 80% results with only 20% effort, you need to focus on some larger questions, like "Where do I routinely spend big money that I don't need to?"

Here are some common answers to that question...

Most people have a surprising amount of money tied up in monthly expenses that are higher than they need to be.

That might be a Cable TV plan that is too excessive (or perhaps entirely unnecessary), a cell phone or internet plan that could be replaced by cheaper alternatives by the same (or other) providers, or some other big "monthly expense" that could be lowered or eliminated by a little research and a few phone calls.

And many of us have daily habits that, once you examine them, are not worth the money we are spending on them. It's easy to get into spending $4.00 on a coffee drink at Starbucks five days a week. If you cut that down to ONE day a week, you'd save $64.00 a month, or $768.00 a year... And still get an occasional latte.

These are the low-hanging fruit, the 20% of effort that make the 80% difference. They can add up to hundreds of dollars a month, and to many thousands each year...

All without going crazy and having to "be thrifty" to 100% perfection.

EATING BETTER

If you want to improve your diet, you may have been telling yourself you should be a vegetarian, or a vegan, or something like that.

But the thing is, 80% of the work of being a vegetarian or vegan is in that last 20% of "doing it perfectly."

But if you want to get 80% of the benefits, you can get them with about 20% of the effort.

In fact, this is happening more, in a group of people who call themselves "flexitarians" (A term that, bizarrely, was voted one of the most useful words by the American Dialect Society in 2003).

These folks do the 80%-value-with-20%-work moves around their diets. They may eat hamburgers on weekends, and have turkey at the family thanksgiving, but most of the time they stick to vegetarian diets.

They get (at least) 80% of the benefits, without having to do all the hardest work that brings the last 20% of perfection. They don't have to ALWAYS say no to burgers, or be left out of family gatherings that involve meat -- they are able to say "yes" when they want or need to.

EXERCISING MORE

You've probably made a plan for improving your body. And if you are like most people, fulfilling on that plan would involve a level of effort that few ordinary mortals are willing or able to make.

You could go to the gym an hour a day... But if you do that, you'll probably find it ends up taking a LOT more than an hour to get there, stretch, life weights, do cardio, shower, dress, and get back into your life.

For some people, that can take two hours or even more.

And that's why people often don't do it.

If you can get "going to the gym" into your daily lifestyle, that's great, and I totally support that.

But if that isn't working for you, then you might want to try a 20%-effort-gives-you-80% benefit solution.

For instance, I have a exercise bike in my basement, with a TV and DVD player in front of it. I have a set of DVDs of funny TV shows I only allow myself to watch on the exercise bike. And before I take a shower, I usually stretch and hit the bike for 20 or 30 minutes.

Is it as good as going that extra 80%, and getting all the way to the gym? Certainly not.

Does it give me a large percentage of the benefits of going to the gym, with much less work? Absolutely.

This is also the principle behind "Curves," a woman's gym that is set up for 30-minute, structured workouts. It's easy to get in, it's all laid out for you, and it's over quickly. It's perhaps not as beneficial as an aggressive gym program with a personal trainer, but it gives MOST of the benefits at a fraction of the effort.

What might be that 20% for you?

CHANGING THE WORLD, 20% AT A TIME

What's even more cool (to me, at least), is that these 20% changes could change the world.

As people who want to make a difference, we often want ourselves (and everyone else) to make lifestyle changes PERFECTLY... whether it's wanting people to not drive cars, to not eat meat, to not use paper towels, or whatever.

We want people to change, and we want them to change 100%.

But I've found that the "less-than-perfect," 20% changes are far easier for people to make, and I suspect they are probably what really have the best chance of changing the world.

You won't be surprised to hear that it's pretty unlikely that everyone will devote themselves 100% to changing the world in the way you want them to.

But if 20% of people made 20% changes to their lifestyles, it could have MAJOR impacts on pressing social and environmental issues.

And it would be a HECK of a lot easier for people to participate in.

CHANGING YOUR LIFE, 20% AT A TIME

Here's what you need to remember:

When you want to make a change, look first for the 20% change that makes 80% of the difference.

Then feel good about what you do, rather than bad for not making the change "100%." Reward yourself for being smart enough to take those 20% actions and to get those 80% results.

That may even be all you need to do.

Guest author Dmitri Bilgere has led personal development seminars all over the US, in Canada, England, and South Africa since 1988. He is also does individual "healing coaching" over the telephone. To get his email newsletters (and a free facilitation mini-course) go to http://dbweb.org/free

The River of Life has no meaning - no good, no bad, no better, no worse, no love, no hate, no fear, no anger, no joy. - Jonathan Lockwood Huie

The River of Life has no meaning - no good, no bad, no better, no worse, no love, no hate, no fear, no anger, no joy. The River of Life has no judgment, no expectation.
The River of Life just IS.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

The River of Life meanders without apparent purpose. To question Life is to invite suffering. To attempt to overpower Life is to tilt at windmills. Life is best enjoyed without resistance. Surrender to the flow of the River of Life, yet do not float down the river like a leaf or a log. While neither attempting to resist time nor to to hurry it, become the rudder and use your energy to correct your course to avoid the whirlpools and undertow.

The River of Life
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

The River of Life flows without emotion.
The River surges. The River quiets.
The River overflows its banks. The River dries to a trickle.
The River swirls and storms. The River becomes calm.
The River runs clear. The River runs dark with silt.
The River is indifferent to what benefit or what harm is caused by its water.
The River is the River, and that is all there is to it.

The River of Life has no judgments.
The River flows with no concept of good and bad – right and wrong.
The fields and dreams of men may be nourished by the River of Life, or flooded and covered with silt, and the River just flows.
Men may catch fish and live on the River of Life, or they may founder in a storm and drown, and the River just flows.

The River of Life is timeless.
It is not unchanging, but it is timeless, and it changes in its own time.

The River of Life knows no obstacles.
The River can cut through solid rock – in its own time.

The River of Life is not powerful – and it is not weak.
The River of Life is not gentle – and it is not strong or rough.
The River of Life is not deep or shallow.
The River of Life is not nourishing or punishing.
The River of Life is simply the River of Life.
The River of Life just IS. There is no more to it.

The River of Life has no meaning, no good, no bad, no better, no worse, no love, no hate, no fear, no anger, no joy.
The River of Life has no judgment, no expectation.
The River of Life just IS.

There is nothing to do.
There is nothing to say.
There is nothing to think.
There is nothing to feel.
The River just flows.

The River is the source of all nourishment - the source of all obstacles.
The River is the source of all life – the source of all death.
The River is the source of all joy – and the source of all sorrow.
Yet the River has no joy – and the River has no sorrow.
The River is just the River.

One can flow harmoniously with the River – or one can struggle fearfully against the River - and the River just flows.
One can accept the River – or one can deny the River – and the River just flows.
One can worship the River of Life – or one can curse the River of Life – and the River just flows.

There is nothing to do – and the River flows.
There is nothing to say – and the River flows.
There is nothing to think – and the River flows.
There is nothing to feel – and the River flows.
The River flows – and all else is our drama.
The River flows – and all else is our invention.

I choose to flow with the River of Life.

Lao Tzu: He who is contented is rich

He who is contented is rich.
- Lao Tzu

Mary Anne Radmacher: You’ve got to come see this. Grab your camera.

I remember the night I was a guest in my good friend’s home.
Exhausted I had fallen early to bed. My shoulder was shaken. A gentle whisper came to my ear, “I know you’re tired, but you’ve got to come see this. Bring your camera. You’d be sorry to have missed this.” My hand fell heavily onto my camera and quietly up the stairs, I followed my friend.

On an air mattress in the middle of the living room floor was her daughter. Her arms intertwined with our good friend, an ailing black Labrador who was not well enough to make it upstairs. The little girl did not want the big dog to sleep alone. His paw rested over her palm as if they were holding hands. They were.

In your days – things like this happen to you. You get a tap, a nudge, a gentle shake and life whispers to you,
“I know you’re tired – but I don’t want you to miss this.”
Listen. And grab your camera!

- Mary Anne Radmacher

The Paradox Of Living In The Moment - How To Be Happy Today And Prepare For Tomorrow

The Paradox Of Living In The Moment - How To Be Happy Today And Prepare For Tomorrow
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Are you feeling stressed and upset? If so, you are worrying about tomorrow. Events that have already occurred may cause you regret, but they only appear to cause worry. If you just lost your job, you are not worrying about losing your job - that already happened. You are worrying about paying your bills and finding a new job. Those are worries about tomorrow.

Worrying is just a natural human emotion, and everyone worries, right? Actually not. Worry is a bad habit that most people acquire, and like all habits, can be broken.

When you worry about what may or may not occur in the future, you miss the joy that is available today - each and every day. So is the answer to focus only on today, and let tomorrow take care of itself? That sounds good - until tomorrow arrives and you are not prepared.

It's a paradox. How does one balance living in the now with preparing responsibly for the future? The key to this dilemma lies in the distinction between "worrying about the future," and "preparing for the future." The two concepts are not at all the same.

There are two aspects to preparing for the future. The one that is more familiar to most people is planning. You know the mortgage is due next week so you save the money - You know you want to fit into your clothes tomorrow, so you forgo that second helping. Planning for the future is fully compatible with living joyfully today.

The other aspect of preparing for the future is accepting that things will probably not turn out the way you plan. Creating this acceptance of life's uncertainties is much more challenging than formulating and following through on plans.

The source of most worry is a lack of acceptance of the uncertainties of the future. When one fully lives a life of acceptance, life's vagaries are not merely tolerated, but are enjoyed because they are life's gifts. If one is religiously inclined, whatever life delivers is a gift from the Creator. If one holds other beliefs, then whatever happens is just what there is to work with - so why not enjoy it.

The recipe for a joyful life is planning and preparing for the future, while simultaneously accepting that you hold virtually no control over future events. By placing no demands on the future, you can enjoy whatever it brings.

Mary Anne Radmacher: There stands a friend

We listen. We listen. We move.
We sit. It rains. The sun comes out. (there stands a friend)
We listen. We laugh. We share.
We sit. We dance. It rains.
There stands a friend.
We listen. We share. We sit. We dance.
The sun comes up.
There. I stand, a friend.
- Mary Anne Radmacher

Lao Tzu: A good traveler has no fixed plans, and is not intent on arriving.

A good traveler has no fixed plans, and is not intent on arriving.
- Lao Tzu

A great paradox of life is that while we must create plans for our future in order to live a joyful life, simultaneously, we must graciously accept whatever events life actually throws against us.

If we fail to plan, we merely bob helplessly - like a cork on the sea of life.
If we resist whatever life delivers to us, we create untold misery for ourselves.

Only by charting our course, and then continuously recharting that course in response to the events of life, can we achieve success and happiness.

Happy Valentine's Day - Love Without Limits

My husband melted my heart the day he asked me,
“Can I participate in your wonder?”
In whose wonder do you get to participate today?
- Mary Anne Radmacher

Happy Valentine's Day - I love You Just the Way You Are

What could be a more appreciated Valentine's Day sentiment than, "I love you just the way you are." No pretense. No hoping for change. No thought that it used to be better or might get better.

The number one rule of a great relationship is always, "I love you just the way you are." The greatest cause of conflict is, "I wish you were different" or "Please change." Wishing or hoping your loved one would change is no way to show your love. Trying to force them to change through bribes or threats is even worse.

Celebrate this Valentine's day by telling your loved one, "I love you just the way you are." Really mean it, and follow through by living into that sentiment for the next 365 days.

Life is always lived in the eye-of-the-storm - Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Life is always lived in the eye-of-the-storm
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Whatever the challenges that actually confront any of us on a given day, the potential threats are always far greater. There are always an array of catastrophes overhanging our lives - wars, terrorists, hurricanes, earthquakes, escaped murderers, child molesters, and maybe a runaway asteroid. In comparison with what "could" happen, our lives are rather serene.

Rather than worrying about the continuous stream of potential threats, let us give thanks for our blessing of living in the eye-of-the-storm - our protected refuge from the terrors of fearsome dangers just outside our lives.

Mary Anne Radmacher: See beauty in unexpected places

See beauty in those unexpected places.
(she asked herself how people could let Bach be background noise.)
See the opportunity in what looks like inconvenience.
(she steered clear of the traffic jam and went to the bakery she’s been meaning to stop at.)
She embraces the undeclared possibility in what seems like just another ordinary day.
(her friend is scheduled for cancer surgery and suddenly everything around her seems so very precious.)
- Mary Anne Radmacher

Try a new perspective on diversity. Across the country and around the world, we are all one. - jonathan lockwood huie

Try a new perspective on diversity. Across the country and around the world, we are all one.
- jonathan lockwood huie

We are all "neighbors." Our world has gotten too small for us to be anything else. We can no longer have "us" and "them" - friends and enemies. A person from Iraq, or Russia, or Columbia is no more a stranger or enemy than a person from across town. A few people everywhere are troublemakers. Every religion provokes a few people to become extremists. Do we need police around the globe? Unfortunately, we always will. Do we need war? Does that question even deserve an answer?

Martin Luther King, Jr. - If a man is called to be a street sweeper

If a man is called to be a street sweeper, he should sweep streets even as Michelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music, or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, here lived a great street sweeper who did his job well.
- Martin Luther King, Jr.

In the United States, my experience is that most people have an idea of what type of work makes a "good" job. Lawyer, doctor, and executive are good jobs. Writer, painter, and sculptor may be considered good jobs. Money and "prestige" make a job "good." Sweeping streets is NOT a good job, and those who take such jobs appear to consider them loathsome and shameful.

In contrast, I had a very different experience on my trip to New Zealand. People I met there actually were proud of their jobs - whatever they were. One man proudly told me that he was "the best bus boy in Christchurch." He was a very pleasant and well spoken man in his fifties who had been a clearing tables for 30 years. He was interested in Americans, and contrasted his happy life with the stories of stress he heard from the tourists whose tables he bussed.

Mary Anne Radmacher:Find your balance and stand with it

Find your balance and stand with it.
Find your song and sing it out.
Find your cadence and let it appear like a dance.
Find the questions that only you know how to ask and
The answers that you are content to not know.
- Mary Anne Radmacher

Meddling - 5 Questions To Ask Yourself Before Offering Helpful Advice

Meddling - 5 Questions To Ask Yourself Before Offering Helpful Advice
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Again, I found myself meddling in the affairs of others. All too often my intention to be supportive and generous runs amok. In the aftermath, I tell myself that I will never do that again, but I do. Actually, I wouldn't want it any other way. The line between "helpful" and meddling is so easy to cross. The only way that I could ensure that I never meddled would be to completely disavow being helpful.

Byron Katie speaks of "my business, your business, and God's business." Everything that happens in the world, or doesn't happen, is NOT my responsibility. There are more than enough things that are my responsibility. I am responsible for my thoughts, my beliefs, and my actions - and that is enough. It does not serve me to mind anyone else's business. I can only make myself unhappy by trying to second guess what anyone else thinks or does.

That's all easy enough to say in the abstract, but when the other person is our friend, spouse, parent, adult son or daughter, or co-worker, it doesn't come at all naturally to remain detached. For many of us, staying in our own business requires a lifetime of self-reminders.

Often we meddle out of a sincere desire to help another, so how can we know when we have gone too far? We have overstepped our bounds whenever we cross the line from assisting others in getting what they want to believing that we know better than they what they SHOULD want.

Through painful experience, I have found five questions to ask myself to help determine whether I am providing assistance or meddling.

1. Did the other person ask for help, advice, or opinion? If the answer is No, then I am meddling. The first and greatest rule is,

Unsolicited Advice Is Always Meddling

2. Even if the person has broadcast a request for help or advice, did they ask for MY advice? When someone is drowning, they will accept a life-ring thrown by a stranger, but advice is only appreciated if the asker fully trusts and respects the advisor.

3. Do I fully respect the other person? While I can responsibly make decisions for a child or a senile person, it is pure meddling for me to believe that I know better than another competent adult how they should live their life. As an example, trying to find friends for someone who has clearly expressed a preference for solitude is meddling.

4. Is the issue a question of belief? Proselytizing is always meddling. My beliefs about religion, politics, the best natural supplements, or whatever, are just my personal beliefs, nothing more. If someone ASKS, I am happy to share about what gives my own life joy and meaning, but whenever I attempt to convert someone else's beliefs, I must be very clear that I am doing it for my own gains, and not as a service to the other.

5. Have I previously attempted to assist this person with this same issue in the past? If I have been asked again, and if I find a different way to be helpful, it's not meddling, but if I continually offer the same advice for the same problem, it crosses the line into meddling.

Compassion and generosity may well be the greatest human virtues, but it is also important to avoid letting these noble instincts cause inadvertent harm to those we want to help.

May flowers always line your path and sunshine light your day - Traditional Irish Blessing

May flowers always line your path and sunshine light your day. May songbirds serenade you every step along the way. May a rainbow run beside you in a sky that's always blue. And may happiness fill your heart each day your whole life through.
- Traditional Irish Blessing

Mary Anne Radmacher: What are the proper grounds for joy?

What are the proper grounds for joy? Is it circumstance which will determine the stature of my spirit? Ah, no. It is choice. It is always a choice – in the face of any event – for joy.
- Mary Anne Radmacher

Many Religions, One Divine

A common denominator of all religions is that they have the power to bring out the best and the worst in people.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

The Divine is all in the perspective we take on it.
- jlh

Today is a day to look at our beliefs from different and broader perspectives. What are our values, and what is our viewpoint toward Spirit and toward Unity with All Creation?

The child to the right is from Peru, the child below from Egypt.


I wrap the potential for bitterness, resentment, martyrdom in the blanket of forgiveness and just set it down. Then it just melts in the warmth. And goes away.
- mary anne radmacher

Celebration around the globe...

Humans have sensed the Divine from before history

Who are any of us to question the sincere beliefs of others?







Choose to Celebrate All of Life

Choose to view the Divine and All of Life from the perspective of Celebration. Celebrate family, celebrate friends, celebrate love, celebrate different perspectives, celebrate all of life.

Mary Anne Radmacher: BUILD UP YOUR CIRCLE

BUILD UP YOUR CIRCLE….
A mind that perceives
What can rationally be.
A spirit that sees
Innovative possibility.
A heart that is open to
Both beginnings and ends.
A firm hand that fits readily
To the reach of a friend.
- Mary Anne Radmacher

Happiness: It Really Is Contagious

You have probably noticed that where you find one happy person, you are likely to find a whole group of happy people. Perhaps you have a guess at why that is so. Happy people seek out other happy people? I'm sure that is a major factor, but the other explanation - that happiness is contagious - has recently been verified by University researchers. Read the details at npr.org.

Marlene Dietrich: It's the friends you can call up at 4 a.m. that matter

It's the friends you can call up at 4 a.m. that matter.
- Marlene Dietrich

When you can call them at 4 AM they have become family - real family - perhaps even more real family than your blood relatives. Honor them, and give thanks for them.

Mary Anne Radmacher: Manage through the uncertainties

Manage through the uncertainties. Practice appropriate actions and participate in healthy choices. Value and celebrate the loyalty of the individuals around you: celebrate their competencies and successes, as well as your own. Build up your circle and reinforce it at every opportunity.
- Mary Anne Radmacher

Jim Carrey: If you aren't in the moment, you are either looking forward to uncertainty, or back to pain and regret.

If you aren't in the moment, you are either looking forward to uncertainty, or back to pain and regret.
- Jim Carrey

Show Your Honest Appreciation - Today.

You are Never Too Old to Give or Get Gold Stars.
Show Your Honest Appreciation - Today.
- jonathan lockwood huie

When I was very young, my mother gave me gold stars whenever I did something she liked. Usually they were small gold foil shapes with sticky backs, but Mother also saved some really big ones - three inches across - for extra-special accomplishments. Together with Mother's love, those stars made me feel special, important, and appreciated.

As adults, we are much more likely to receive criticism than appreciation. Our boss, our spouse, and the others in our lives expect much from us. When we fail to live up to their expectations, they criticize, but when we go beyond the call, or better yet do something delightfully unexpected, we are likely to get an "ummm..." response at best.

Appreciation, whether verbal or as physical shiny gold stars, is perhaps the greatest gift we can give to those around us. In the timeless How to Win Friends and Influence People, Dale Carnegie lists "Give Honest and Sincere Appreciation," as one of his fundamental principles.

When was the last time you offered sincere appreciation or a gold star? Perhaps it was recently. In a few offices, gold stars have become a common, if sometimes insincere, practice. Some on-line communities provide gold stars - or green stars or butterflies - for members to award each other. However, most of the time most of us fail to express our appreciation to those people who make our lives better in small, or large, ways.

Consider these ways to express appreciation:

1. Give someone a shiny gold star. It's only tacky or childish if your action is insincere.

2. Send a note of appreciation. Again, if it's sincere, it's always gracious and never inappropriate.

3. Speak your appreciation directly. Say "I appreciate what you did."

4. Say "Thank You" as often as you can.

5. Express appreciation for the person as well as the deed. "I appreciate YOU. Thank You for being my friend - or co-worker, or..."

Give somebody a gold star - Today.

How To Stop Worrying By Using the Qigong Release Exercise

How To Stop Worrying By Using the Qigong Release Exercise
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Spirit is always ready to lighten our burdens. Our only job is to ask respectfully. Here is a ceremony for releasing your troubles back to the Universe.

Choose a quiet place, and stand comfortably with feet spread slightly apart. Take a deep breath, and exhale with a resonant mmmm... sound. Bend slightly at the waist and reach down with both hands - with hands facing each other and about 6 inches apart. Choose something that is very important to you and that you don't think you could stand to lose - such as your house, your favorite sport, your pet, your relationship with a loved one, your hearing, your eyesight, your life. Visualize your important something between your hands.

Rise slowly and bring your hands to your heart - still 6 inches apart, and still holding your treasure. Feel intense love and gratitude for every joyful instant that you have spent with your important something. Now slowly raise your hands above your head, spread your hands apart, and RELEASE your treasure back to the Universe. It never belonged to you anyway - it was just on short term loan from Spirit.

Choose another important something and release it. For everything important in your life, pick it up, love it, nurture it, give thanks for it, and then release it.

Do the same exercise for each person that you have ever loved, and that has passed from this life. Hold them, love them, give thanks for them, and then release them back to the Universe.

Now, release your burdens - your fears, regrets, guilts, shames, embarrassments, angers. One by one, pick up each memory or fear that troubles you, hold it close, and release it to the Universe. Release each incident from your past that still bothers you. Release each fear - your fears about your health, your family, your job, and every other fear.

Breathe deeply, and give thanks.

What To Do When Your Whole World Is Falling Apart? 6 Support Ideas To Stop Anxiety and Give You Back Your Life

What To Do When Your Whole World Is Falling Apart? 6 Support Ideas To Stop Anxiety and Give You Back Your Life
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

What if you lost your job, your house burned down, the creditors were closing in, and your marriage had become hellishly confrontational? No, that's not make believe. That's the real life of a real person. How can you maintain a positive outlook under such stress and strain?

Six ways to find joy in the face of overwhelming circumstances:

1. Start by finding things for which to be grateful. Gratitude is crucial to your happiness. If you are reading this article, you are alive and your brain is functioning fairly well. Start your gratitude list with living, breathing, and thinking. Add every blessing, however tiny, to your list. Every moment without pain is a blessing, every bite of food, every bird, tree, and butterfly. Give thanks for every "hello," and every smile.

2. Give thanks, also, for the life lessons. Make a list of what you have learned - yes, a written list. Be grateful for each lesson. Life lessons often come at great cost, but they are priceless jewels.

3. Do you have a support system - friends and family you can confide in? If so, be very grateful, and use that network now. Don't be embarrassed to seek emotional support from those you respect and love. If you don't feel you have a support network, find one in your church or community, and be grateful for those who are willing to be of service.

4. Care for your body and spirit with special attention and gentleness in this time of great challenge. Several times each day, take a moment to breathe deeply and center yourself. Consider beginning yoga or qigong. Eat healthy, keep hydrated. Get enough sleep. If you have trouble sleeping, pay special attention to the rest of the ideas in this article, they will all help you sleep better.

5. Begin each day with a silent walk: Get up a half hour earlier to make time for it. While a walk in a natural setting is ideal, a walk on city streets will do fine. Thoughts, angers, resentments, and fears will form in your mind as you walk. That "mind chatter" is always with us whenever we are not focused on a specific mental activity, and it gets much stronger when we are stressed. Neither resent the mind chatter, nor let it linger. Say "thank you" to each passing thought, anger, resentment, or fear - then release it and return to your silent walk.

6. Release your angers, resentments, and fears by feeding your troubles and fears to the cleansing fire: Light a candle or small fire. Write one trouble or fear on a piece of paper, and feed it to the fire, while releasing the issue to Spirit. Repeat until you can no longer think of another issue that burdens you.

May your days be bright with joy and hope.

Mary Anne Radmacher: USE this time of fresh beginnings

USE this time of fresh beginnings. Use it as an impetus, the force or energy toward change. Become stronger, a better leader, more focused in your thoughts. Exert more influence over your dreams by bringing them closer to your thoughts, every day.
- Mary Anne Radmacher

Henry Ward Beecher: Forgiveness ought to be like a canceled note

I can forgive, but I cannot forget, is only another way of saying, I will not forgive. Forgiveness ought to be like a canceled note - torn in two, and burned up, so that it never can be shown against one.
- Henry Ward Beecher (19th century Congregationalist clergyman and social reformer)

Joseph Campbell: Life is without meaning. You bring the meaning to it.

Life is without meaning. You bring the meaning to it. The meaning of life is whatever you ascribe it to be. Being alive is the meaning.
– Joseph Campbell

This does NOT mean that life is meaningless or empty. Campbell's point is that we get to CHOOSE the meaning for our lives. Our lives mean exactly what we say they do - no more, no less. Each of us chooses their path in life.