Welcome to my Daily Inspiration - Daily Quote. See today's daily inspirational quotes below.
May the world be kind to you, and may your own thoughts be gentle upon yourself. - Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Monday, October 31, 2016

Behind that Mask


We are what we pretend to be,
so we must be careful what we pretend to be.
- Kurt Vonnegut

Society is a masked ball,
where every one hides his real character,
and reveals it by hiding.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

Whoever you pretend to be, you must face yourself eventually.
- Al Stewart

We all have a social mask, right?
We put it on, we go out, put our best foot forward, our best image.
But behind that social mask is a personal truth,
what we really, really believe about who we are and what we're capable of.
- Phil McGraw

Society censors our actions,
but our dreams reveal our true character.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Man is least himself when he talks in his own person.
Give him a mask, and he will tell you the truth.
- Oscar Wilde

What if we like our outrageous side best?
We "know" that the "right" thing to do is to suck it up,
put the costume and the happy face back in storage for another year,
re-dress in our frown and gray flannel suit,
and trudge back to job, chores, "responsibilities," and "duty."
Stop! Maybe TODAY is the day to put the frown and gray flannel
into that dusty storage locker, and start to LIVE.
Not just today, but EVERY DAY for the rest of your life!
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie


Further reading: What lessons might Halloween hold for us?

How To Not Care What Others Think

How to Be Yourself

Need For Approval
    

Sunday, October 30, 2016

The Nature of God


You may call God love, you may call God goodness.
But the best name for God is compassion.
- Meister Eckhart

The style of God venerated in the church, mosque, or synagogue
seems completely different from the style of the natural universe.
- Alan Watts

Praying without ceasing is not ritualized,
nor are there even words.
It is a constant state of awareness of oneness with God.
- Peace Pilgrim

He who is persistent will realize God.
So try your best to make meditation
a regular experience in your life.
- Paramahansa Yogananda

I distrust those people who know so well
what God wants them to do,
because I notice it always coincides
with their own desires.
- Susan B. Anthony

When the universal sacraments of compassion and joy
fill the vast cathedral of our being,
we become the face of God.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie


Further reading: Surrender to God

Everything is God

Be an Open Channel

Solitude vs. Feeling Lonely
    

Saturday, October 29, 2016

Truth Does Not Convert


No one can persuade another to change.
Each of us guards a gate of change
that can only be opened from the inside.
We cannot open the gate of another,
either by argument or emotional appeal.
- Marilyn Ferguson

The truth only irritates those it enlightens,
but does not convert.
- Pasquier Quesnel

You cannot teach a man anything;
you can only help him find it within himself.
- Galileo Galilei

The greatest roadblock to a great relationship
is trying to force a partner to change through bribes or threats.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

I cannot teach anybody anything.
I can only make them think.
- Socrates

We cause ourselves untold misery whenever we believe
others to be imperfect and try to change them.
You have no ability whatsoever to change anyone other than yourself.
You can only cause yourself great suffering if you try.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie


Further reading: Live and Let Live

My thoughts on meddling in the affairs of others

The Problem with Advice

Questions To Ask Yourself Before Offering Helpful Advice
    

Friday, October 28, 2016

Spread Love


Spread love everywhere you go.
Let no one ever come to you without leaving happier.
- Mother Teresa

A Single Generosity Enlarges the World.
- Mary Anne Radmacher

Compassion becomes real when we recognize our shared humanity.
- Pema Chodron

One thing I know: the only ones among you who will be really happy
are those who will have sought and found how to serve.
- Albert Schweitzer


Further reading: True Measure of a Successful Life

Lighting the Way

Empathy 

Pay It Forward
   

Thursday, October 27, 2016

Rejoice for Roses


We can complain because rose bushes have thorns,
or rejoice because thorn bushes have roses.
- Anonymous (falsely attributed to Abraham Lincoln)

Everything is a miracle,
not just the beautiful and lovely things.
- Anonymous

Keep your eyes open to your mercies.
The man who forgets to be thankful has fallen asleep in life.
- Robert Louis Stevenson

Nature cannot be tricked or cheated.
She will give up to you the object of your struggles
only after you have paid her price.
- Napoleon Hill


Further reading: Is your glass of life half empty? Or half full?

Seeing Unexpected Beauty

Planting Flowers

What One Emphasizes
    

Wednesday, October 26, 2016

The Quieter You Become...


The quieter you become,
the more you can hear.
- Ram Dass

Spend time every day listening to what your muse is trying to tell you.
- Saint Bartholomew

There is more to life than increasing its speed.
- Mohandas (Mahatma) Gandhi

Listen or your tongue will keep you deaf.
- Native American Proverb

In prayerful silence you must look into your own heart.
No one can tell you better than yourself what comes between you and God.
Ask yourself.
Then listen!
- Johannes Tauler


Is a deadline worth your health and happiness?
Consider a gentler, quieter, slower life.
Pause to smell the roses, to breathe, to take a quiet moment for yourself.

Let today be a day to remember that you get to CHOOSE how you spend your time.

Further reading: Quiet Time

The Quiet Voice of Courage

The Beat of the Universe

Finding God in Silence

Your Intuition is Your Guide
   

Tuesday, October 25, 2016

Your Vote is Your Voice


We are called to be architects of the future, not its victims.
- R. Buckminster Fuller


VOTE Early! In most places, early voting is available. Vote NOW!

Always vote for principle, though you may vote alone,
and you may cherish the sweetest reflection that your vote is never lost.
- John Quincy Adams

What we have done for ourselves alone dies with us;
what we have done for others and the world remains and is immortal.
- Albert Pike

Our lives begin to end the day we become silent
about things that matter.
- Martin Luther King, Jr.

Create the legacy of a better world.
Leave this world a better place than you found it.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie


Further reading: True Measure of a Successful Life

A Truly Successful Life

Create Light for Others

We Belong to Each Other
    

Monday, October 24, 2016

Never Ever Give Up


You drown not by falling into a river,
but by staying submerged in it.
- Paulo Coelho

Men do not fail; they give up trying.
- Elihu Root

Through perseverance, many people win success
out of what seemed destined to be certain failure.
- Benjamin Disraeli

You may have a fresh start any moment you choose,
for this thing that we call "failure" is not the falling down,
but the staying down.
- Mary Pickford

The majority of men meet with failure
because of their lack of persistence
in creating new plans to take
the place of those which fail.
- Napoleon Hill

For every failure, there's an alternative course of action.
You just have to find it.
When you come to a roadblock, take a detour.
- Mary Kay Ash


Further reading: When Life Looks Hopeless

Circumstance Reveals a Person's Nature

Responsibility, Not Blame

Overcoming Difficulties
    

Sunday, October 23, 2016

Each Life is Defined by Both Good Deeds and Evil


There is some good in the worst of us and some evil in the best of us.
When we discover this, we are less prone to hate our enemies.
- Martin Luther King, Jr.

When we hate our enemies, we are
giving them power over us:
power over our sleep, our appetites,
our blood pressure, our health, and our happiness.
Our enemies would dance with joy if only
they knew how they were worrying us,
lacerating us, and getting even with us!
Our hate is not hurting them at all,
but our hate is turning our own days
and nights into a hellish turmoil.
- Dale Carnegie

That which you hate to be done to you,
do not do to another.
- Ancient Egyptian Proverb
[Most ancient cultures independently created their own version of "The Golden Rule."]

An "enemy" is a mirage -
an image of self reflected on the sands of Hell.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie


Further reading: Allow Love to Conquer Hate

Keep the Golden Rule

Three Wise Monkeys

Love your enemies - Jesus

Judge Not
   

Saturday, October 22, 2016

Revising the Past


You change the past when you change the way you see it.
- Alan Cohen

He who spends time regretting the past,
loses the present and risks the future.
- Quevedo

History is a vast early warning system.
- Norman Cousins

Oh yes, the past can hurt.
But, you can either run from it or, learn from it.
- the movie The Lion King

Study the past, if you would divine the future.
- Confucius

Live life with no regrets and no resentments.
Whatever happened in the past,
forgive yourself and others. Choose love.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie


Further reading: Release the Past

Learning From History

The Cleansing Power of Forgiveness

Letting Go - Moving On
   

Friday, October 21, 2016

Trust Your Own Inner Guidance


Trust yourself, then you will know how to live.
- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

When I'm trusting and being myself...
everything in my life reflects this
by falling into place easily, often miraculously.
- Shakti Gawain

Believe in yourself. Have faith in your abilities.
Without a humble but reasonable confidence in your own powers
you cannot be successful or happy.
- Norman Vincent Peale

Trust your own inner guidance.
Have faith that your steps are
carrying you toward your dreams.
Keep your eyes on the heavens
and believe that your feet will carry you well.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie


Further reading: Be Simply Yourself

Approve of Yourself

Be Simply Yourself

Fulfilling Your Dreams
    

Thursday, October 20, 2016

Returning Home


A man travels the world over in search of what he needs
and returns home to find it.
- George A. Moore

A house is made of walls and beams;
a home is built with love and dreams.
- Anonymous

Home is where the heart is.
- Pliny the Elder

The ache for home lives in all of us,
the safe place where we can go as we are and not be questioned.
- Maya Angelou

Where we love is home -
home that our feet may leave,
but not our hearts.
- Oliver Wendell Holmes

Home is where our loved ones are.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Home is our sanctuary, where we:
relax into being ourselves,
play with our inner child,
paint the walls green and pink,
dig in the dirt,
grow something,
love somebody else,
love ourselves even more,
snuggle with a warm blanket on a Sunday afternoon,
hang "go away" on the door whenever we want,
clean and tidy often... or never,
launch from and return to,
are truly ourselves.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie


Further reading: Joy at Home

Marriage

Giving of Yourself

Family
    

Wednesday, October 19, 2016

Seeing Beauty (or not)


Beauty in things exists in the mind which contemplates them.
- David Hume

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder
- Anonymous

The eyes are not responsible when the mind does the seeing.
- Publilius Syrus

There is a kind of beauty in imperfection.
- Conrad Hall

The eye sees what it brings the power to see.
- Thomas Carlyle

Do not blame the thistle that you see no beauty.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie


Further reading: What You See

The Commonplace

What We Perceive

Your Point of View
    

Tuesday, October 18, 2016

Not Merely to Exist


I would rather be ashes than dust!
I would rather that my spark should burn out in a brilliant blaze
than it should be stifled by dry rot.
I would rather be a superb meteor,
every atom of me in magnificent glow,
than a sleepy and permanent planet.
The proper function of man is to live, not to exist.
I shall not waste my days in trying to prolong them.
I shall use my time.
- Jack London

Death comes to all,
but great achievements build a monument
which shall endure until the sun grows cold.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one's courage.
- Anais Nin

If we let things terrify us,
life will not be worth living.
- Seneca


Further reading: To Do That Which Will Endure

My Highest Aspirations

We Come This Way But Once

Live Every Moment, Joyfully
    

Monday, October 17, 2016

Let Go of Your Attachment to Your Plans


We must let go of the life we have planned,
so as to accept the one that is waiting for us.
The old skin has to be shed before the new one can come.
- Joseph Campbell

When I let go of what I am,
I become what I might be.
- Lao Tzu

You have to accept whatever comes
and the only important thing is that you meet it with courage
and with the best that you have to give.
- Eleanor Roosevelt

There's a trick to the Graceful Exit.
It begins with the vision to recognize when a job, a life stage,
a relationship is over - and to let go.
It means leaving what's over without denying its value.
- Ellen Goodman

All life is change.
Release your attachment to the way things have been,
and wend your way joyfully
through life's unfolding majesty.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie


Further reading: Welcome the Unknown

Avoid Labeling Yourself

Let Go and Accept This Moment

Release the Struggle
    

Sunday, October 16, 2016

You are the One to Bring Peace


Nobody can bring you peace but yourself.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

It's not the situation that's causing your stress,
it's your thoughts,
and you can change that right here and now.
You can choose to be peaceful right here and now.
Peace is a choice,
and it has nothing to do with what other people do or think.
- Gerald Jampolsky

When you find peace within yourself,
you become the kind of person who can live at peace with others.
- Peace Pilgrim

If in our daily life we can smile,
if we can be peaceful and happy,
not only we, but everyone will profit from it.
This is the most basic kind of peace work.
- Thich Nhat Hanh

Know that you can always choose your own inner peace -
regardless of circumstances.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Choose Inner Peace

The War Within Yourself

Bring Peace

Focus on Peace
    

Saturday, October 15, 2016

The Primal Rhythmic Power


The primal rhythmic power
and resonant sound of waves on the shore
are like the earth's heartbeat,
and become our connection with the body of nature.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Everything has rhythm. everything dances.
- Maya Angelou

To discover joy is to return
to a state of oneness with the universe.
- Peggy Jenkins

Earth and sky, woods and fields, lakes and rivers,
the mountain and the sea, are excellent schoolmasters,
and teach some of us more than we can ever learn from books.
- John Lubbock


Further reading: The Beat of the Universe

Set Your Rhythm

Today is Your Day

Unity with Spirit and All Creation
    

Friday, October 14, 2016

Choosing How You See


Choose the World You See,
and See the World You Choose.
You have a choice
about the perspective you take on life.
See tragedy, and the world is tragic -
see beauty, and the world is beautiful.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

What we see depends mainly on what we look for.
- John Lubbock

People seem not to see that
their opinion of the world
is also a confession of character.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

It all depends on how we look at things,
and not how they are in themselves.
- Carl Jung


Further reading: Your Attitude is Your Window

What You See

What We Perceive
    

Thursday, October 13, 2016

Let Go, Breath by Breath


Breath by breath, let go of fear, expectation, anger,
regret, cravings, frustration, fatigue.
Let go of the need for approval.
- Lama Surya Das

The moment you start seeing life
as non-serious, a playfulness,
all the burden on your heart disappears.
All the fear of death, of life,
of love - everything disappears.
- Osho

Inhale, and God approaches you.
Hold the inhalation, and God remains with you.
Exhale, and you approach God.
Hold the exhalation, and surrender to God.
- Krishnamacharya

Move to your heart, Breathe.
Close your eyes and breathe deeply - slowly -
fill your lungs with love and gratitude -
exhale each and every trouble -
again and again - gratitude in, troubles out.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie


Today's affirmation:
Slowly and Deeply, I Inhale a Calming Breath.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie


Further reading: Breathe In, Breathe Out

Feel Your Connection With the Infinite - a Meditation

Breathe deeply and rejoice

Conscious Breathing to Relieve Stress
   

Wednesday, October 12, 2016

Color Today Bright


Today is your day to paint life in bold colors;
set today's rhythm with your heart-drum;
walk today's march with courage;
create today as your celebration of life.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

This world is but a canvas to our imagination.
- Henry David Thoreau

Your attitude is like a box of crayons that color your world.
Constantly color your picture gray, and your picture will always be bleak.
Try adding some bright colors to the picture by including humor,
and your picture begins to lighten up.
- Allen Klein

If a man does not keep pace with his companions,
perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer.
- Henry David Thoreau


Each of us is an artist, but many are repressed artists.
There is something of ourselves that cannot be expressed in words.
Perhaps that something can be expressed in form or color, dance or music.
If only with crayons or a tin drum,
let that something that cannot be said move your hands or your body today.

Further reading: The Canvas Of Life

Big Dream - Big Adventure

To Live, Not Merely To Exist

The Whole Leap
    

Tuesday, October 11, 2016

Comfort, Rainbows, and Laughter


This is my wish for you:
Comfort on difficult days,
Smiles when sadness intrudes,
Rainbows to follow the clouds,
Laughter to kiss your lips,
Sunsets to warm your heart,
Hugs when spirits sag,
Beauty for your eyes to see,
Friendships to brighten your being,
Faith so that you can believe,
Confidence for when you doubt,
Courage to know yourself,
Patience to accept the truth,
Love to complete your life.
- Anonymous

What do we live for, if it is not
to make life less difficult for each other?
- George Eliot

May a thread of comfort be woven through your difficult days.
- Mary Anne Radmacher

May the world be kind to you,
and may your own thoughts be gentle upon yourself.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie


Further reading: Giving Love and Comfort

Love and Kindness

Acts of Kindness

Offering Comfort
    

Monday, October 10, 2016

Illusions


Attachment is the great fabricator of illusions;
reality can be attained only by someone who is detached.
- Simone Weil

Tradition is the illusion of permanence.
- the Woody Allen movie Deconstructing Harry

How strange; when an illusion dies,
it's as though you've lost a child.
- Judy Garland

Growing up is best measured in terms of illusions lost.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie


Further reading: All Is Not As It Appears

The Illusion of Knowledge

Practice Keen Awareness


Sunday, October 9, 2016

You Cannot Serve Both God and Money


You cannot serve both God and money.
- Jesus (Matthew 6:24)

Naked I came from my mother’s womb,
    and naked I will depart.
The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away;
    may the name of the Lord be praised.
- Job 1:21

Do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink;
or about your body, what you will wear.
- Jesus (Matthew 6:25)

Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor.
- Jesus (Mark 10:21)

Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth.
- Jesus (Matthew 6:19)


Today's affirmation:
I say YES to simple living, faith, gratitude, generosity, and service.
I say NO to coveting wealth or lacking compassion.


Further reading: This God Called Money

Why do some "respected Christians" reject Jesus' teachings?

A Simple Life

Gratitude for THIS Moment
    

Saturday, October 8, 2016

Thankful for All Blessings


Every blessing ignored becomes a curse.
- Paulo Coelho

The unthankful heart... discovers no mercies;
but let the thankful heart sweep through the day
and, as the magnet finds the iron,
so it will find, in every hour, some heavenly blessings!
- Henry Ward Beecher

The thankful receiver bears a plentiful harvest.
- William Blake

A wonderful gift may not be wrapped as you expect;
be open to receiving the bounty of the Universe.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie


Further reading: Feeling Blessed

Gratitude for This Food

Release the Struggle

Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life

Appreciating Our Blessings
    

Friday, October 7, 2016

Universal Connection


If you go off into a far, far forest and get very quiet,
you'll come to understand that you're connected with everything.
- Alan Watts

We need to find God, and he cannot
be found in noise and restlessness.
God is the friend of silence.
See how nature - trees, flowers, grass-
grows in silence; see the stars,
the moon and the sun, how they move in silence...
We need silence to be able to touch souls.
- Mother Teresa

There is a serene and settled majesty to woodland scenery
that enters into the soul and delights and elevates it,
and fills it with noble inclinations.
- Washington Irving

Today's affirmation:
I am a Unique Expression
of the Universal Fabric of Creation.
I celebrate both my uniqueness
and my connection with all that is.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie


Further reading: Natural Web

Feel Your Connection With the Infinite - a Meditation

Same Breath

Everything is God
    

Thursday, October 6, 2016

Seekers of Truth


Keep the company of those who seek the truth;
run from those who have found it.
- Václav Havel

If you would be a real seeker after truth,
it is necessary that at least once in your life you doubt,
as far as possible, all things.
- Rene Descartes

To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.
- Alfred Lord Tennyson

Examine, inquire.
Look into the nature of things.
Search out the grounds of your opinions,
the for and against.
Know why you believe, understand what you believe,
and possess a reason for the faith that is in you.
- Frances Wright

The presence of those seeking the truth
is infinitely to be preferred
to the presence of those who think they've found it.
- Terry Pratchett

Believe those who are seeking the truth.
Doubt those who find it.
- Andre Gide


Further reading: Be a Seeker

Welcome the Unknown

The Illusion of Knowledge

It's a Wonderful Life
    

Wednesday, October 5, 2016

Do What You Can; Trust God With The Rest


God grant me the serenity
To accept the things I cannot change;
the courage to change the things I can;
and the wisdom to know the difference.
- Reinhold Niebuhr (Serenity Prayer)

Make the best use of what is in your power,
and take the rest as it happens.
- Epictetus

Do what you can, and do it well.
Accept the rest with equanimity, and trust in God.
No one can ever do more than that.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie


Further reading: Letting Go and Accepting This Moment

Serenity in Times of Crisis

Eye Of The Storm
    

Tuesday, October 4, 2016

Life in Abundance with Awareness


Today, begin to look on all things
with love, appreciation and open-mindedness.
- A Course in Miracles

When you arise in the morning, think of what a precious
privilege it is to be alive -
to breathe,
to think, to enjoy, to love.
- Marcus Aurelius

Let us not look back in anger
or forward in fear,
but around in awareness.
- James Thurber

For some of us, the world appears to provide
only a fixed quantity of each resource -
a limited amount of food, of money,
of love, of success, of appreciation.
For others, life is unlimited.
Their world expands with the generosity, compassion,
inventiveness, and service that they contribute.
In this world-view, money that is spent
or given away returns multiplied.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie


Further reading: Bounty of the Earth

Be Open - Welcome the New

Living Content

The Essence of Life

Recognizing Our Abundance
    

Monday, October 3, 2016

Prison of the Closed Heart


The worst prison would be a closed heart.
- Pope John Paul II

Forgiveness is unlocking the door to set someone free
and realizing you were the prisoner!
- Max Lucado

You feel like a prisoner if you don't create.
You're jailed up inside of yourself.
- Edie Brickell

There is no greater hell than to be a prisoner of fear.
- Ben Jonson

You shouldn't be a prisoner of your own ideas.
- Sol LeWitt

A man may dwell so long upon a thought that it may take him prisoner.
- George Savile

Free-Will is the key to the prison of the mind.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie


Further reading: Prisoner of Habit

Choose Your Habits, Choose Your Life

Fly Free
 

Sunday, October 2, 2016

Your Talent is God's Gift to You


Your talent is God's gift to you.
- Leo Buscaglia

Pray as though everything depended on God.
Work as though everything depended on you.
- Saint Augustine

God is present everywhere, and every person is His work.
- Saint Francis de Sales

A man's pride shall bring him low,
but honor shall uphold the humble in spirit.
- Proverbs 29:23

Leadership is an opportunity to serve.
It is not a trumpet call to self-importance.
- J. Donald Walters


Today's affirmation:
I give thanks to God for my physical, mental, and emotional health;
for my intelligence; for my talent; for my parents;
for my rearing; and for my place and condition of birth.


Further reading: Give Thanks and Celebrate

Tolerance, Not Judgement

Helping Others

Judge Not

Rekindling the Light
    

Saturday, October 1, 2016

The Mountain Unmoved


The mountain remains unmoved at seeming defeat by the mist.
- Rabindranath Tagore

Patience and fortitude conquer all things.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

Patience is a form of wisdom.
It demonstrates that we understand and accept
the fact that sometimes things must unfold in their own time.
- Jon Kabat-Zinn

When you encounter difficulties and contradictions,
do not try to break them, but bend them with gentleness and time.
- Saint Francis de Sales

If you would know strength and patience,
welcome the company of trees.
- Hal Borland

Patience, persistence, and perseverance.
A little more each day, a little better each day.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie


Further reading: Beyond Worry

Try Again Tomorrow

The Wisdom of Patience

Strength in Silence

Emulate the Patience of Nature

Fortitude
    
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