The bad news is time flies. The good news is you're the pilot. Michael Althsuler

Who forces time is pushed back by time; who yields to time finds time on his side.
- The Talmud

This time, like all times, is a very good one, if we but know what to do with it.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

The bad news is time flies. The good news is you're the pilot.
- Michael Althsuler

Today's affirmation: I choose never to be a prisoner of urgency.

Further reading: Time, like life itself, has no inherent meaning.

This Above All, To Thine Own Self Be True - 5 Ways to Apply William Shakespeare's Advice Today

Socrates: Beware the barrenness of a busy life

Lao Tzu: Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished

Ralph Waldo Emerson: Nothing can bring you peace but yourself

"Hurry up" ranks right up there with "you need to" as a destroyer of our humanity - jlh

If you spend your whole life waiting for the storm, you'll never enjoy the sunshine. Morris West

Anyone can hold the helm when the sea is calm.
- Publilius Syrus

Fear cannot be banished, but it can be calm and without panic; it can be mitigated by reason and evaluation.
- Vannevar Bush

Clouds come floating into my life, no longer to carry rain or usher storm, but to add color to my sunset sky.
- Rabindranath Tagore

If you spend your whole life waiting for the storm, you'll never enjoy the sunshine.
- Morris West

Today's Affirmation: My life is the eye of the hurricane - an island of calm in a sea of uncertainty.

Further reading: How to Relieve Stress and Lead a Stress-Free Life

Stop Anger Before it Stops You - 7 Secrets

All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them. Walt Disney

All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them.
- Walt Disney

Dreams are necessary to life.
- Anais Nin

There are those that look at things the way they are, and ask "Why?" I dream of things that never were, and ask "Why not?"
- Robert F. Kennedy paraphrase of George Bernard Shaw

To create a meaningful life: Dream it; Pursue it; Persevere courageously; Keep focus and ignore distractions.

Further reading: VISION - the fifth Point of Simply An Inspired Life

Success... A goal is a dream with a deadline. - Napoleon Hill

Eleanor Roosevelt: The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.

C. S. Lewis You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream

Pope John XXIII: Consult not your fears but your hopes and your dreams.

Nothing is softer or more flexible than water, yet nothing can resist it. Lao Tzu

Nothing is softer or more flexible than water, yet nothing can resist it. - Lao Tzu 

 He who is contented is rich. - Lao Tzu 

 Stay committed to your decisions, but stay flexible in your approach. - Tony Robbins 

 Choose your battles wisely. While your core principles and your life goals are important, most of what you let upset you is not worth an argument or lost sleep. Take Lao Tzu's advice and become softer and more flexible. 

 Further reading: No one is in control of your happiness but you 

  Anthony Robbins: If you do what you've always done, you'll get what you've always gotten. 

  Lao Tzu: The wise man does not lay up his own treasures. The more he gives to others, the more he has for his own.

Encourage me, and I will not forget you. William Arthur Ward

Flatter me, and I may not believe you. Criticize me, and I may not like you. Ignore me, and I may not forgive you. Encourage me, and I will not forget you. - William Arthur Ward 

  A friend encourages your dreams and offers advice - but when you don't follow it, they still respect and love you. - Doris Wild Helmering

 Live your life joyfully in your own way. Support and encourage others to live their lives joyfully in their own ways. Love your family and friends; encourage them to live joyful and fulfilling lives; but don't try to make their choices for them. 

 Further reading: Another Sunrise, Another New Beginning - jlh 

  Meddling - 5 Questions to Ask Yourself Before Offering Helpful Advice 

 Further watching: Living Your Inspired Life - video

The struggle ends when the gratitude begins. Neale Donald Walsch

The struggle ends when the gratitude begins.
- Neale Donald Walsch

We can only be said to be truly alive in those moments when our hearts are conscious of our treasures.
- Thornton Wilder

A thankful heart is not only the greatest virtue, but the parent of all other virtues.
- Cicero

Further reading: Elie Wiesel: When a person doesn't have gratitude, something is missing in his or her humanity.

If the only prayer you said in your whole life was, Thank You, that would suffice. - Meister Eckhart

Majority rule only works if you're also considering individual rights. Larry Flynt

Important ideas can come from unexpected places. We tend to label people - Genius, Idiot, Socialist, Right Wingnut, Freedom Fighter, Terrorist. But it is helpful to remind ourselves to be open to good ideas - whatever their source. It is equally important to avoid accepting any idea merely because we respect that person's other ideas or accomplishments. A further complication is that many quotes are falsely attributed - Thomas Jefferson, for example, didn't say half of what he is quoted as saying.

Here are some unexpected quotes - both important insights from infamous mouths and off-the-wall ideas from honored people...

Majority rule only works if you're also considering individual rights, because you can't have five wolves and one sheep voting on what to have for dinner.
- Larry Flynt (creator and publisher of Hustler magazine)

I consider my greatest accomplishment to be lifelong celibacy.
- Isaac Newton (discoverer of the laws of gravitation and motion, famous mathematician, and perhaps the greatest scientist ever)

If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it.
- attributed to Joseph Goebbels (Minister of Propaganda in Nazi Germany)

Social progress can be measured by the social position of the female sex.
- Karl Marx (German philosopher and political economist whose ideas are credited as the foundation of modern communism)

Spurious Quotations: Here are a couple of great quotes - except that they weren't said by who everybody thinks they were...

It ain't what you don't know that gets you into trouble. It's what you know for sure that just ain't so.
- Josh Billings (not Mark Twain)

"Mother Teresa Prayer"
People are often unreasonable, illogical, and self-centered; ... Forgive them anyway.
- Kent Keith (Mother Teresa kept a copy on the wall of her orphanage)

Further reading: Mother Teresa quotes: Love begins at home

Believe that life is worth living and your belief will help create the fact. William James

Believe that life is worth living and your belief will help create the fact. - William James 

 We do not inherit the Earth from our Ancestors, we borrow it from our Children. - Native American traditional 

  What you leave behind is not what is engraved in stone monuments, but what is woven into the lives of others. - Pericles 

 Life is about more than today, and more than yourself. What will your legacy be? What will your great-grandchildren be told about you? Creating a legacy does not have to be a burden, it can be your joy and can create your satisfaction with living each day. What kind of world do you want to leave your great-grandchildren? What can you do today to help create that world?

Everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact. Marcus Aurelius

Everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact. Everything we see is a perspective, not the truth. - Marcus Aurelius 

  Most people's historical perspective begins with the day of their birth. - Rush Limbaugh 

 I never imagined that I'd agree with Rush Limbaugh on anything, but his observation on the general lack of historical perspective is important. 

 Those who see progress as being too slow - whether in civil rights, medical advances, economic opportunity, or other areas - might compare the current rate of progress with that at any other time in history and have patience. Those who worry about the directions in which civilization is moving might reexamine the twists and turns of history - nothing remains constant. Year by year, century by century, governments, wars, health, food supply, swing from extreme to extreme. Also have patience - every generation will have its own challenges, failures, and successes. Almost nothing you worry about today will matter in a hundred years. Think carefully about what you can focus on today that will actually make a positive difference to your great-grandchildren. 

 Further reading: Life is all in the perspective we take on it. - jlh 

  The greatest battle of all is simply... Life 

  Keep your feet firmly planted on the ground as you reach for the stars 

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

Unlike grown-ups, children have little need to deceive themselves. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Unlike grown-ups, children have little need to deceive themselves.
- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

There are two lasting bequests we can give our children: One is roots, the other is wings.
- Hodding Carter

Children are born innocent. Before they are domesticated they live in the moment, love without fear, and don't even think about the opinions of others.
- don Miguel Ruiz

If there is anything we wish to change in the child, we should first examine it and see whether it is not something that could better be changed in ourselves.
- Carl Jung

Today, April 21, is Kindergarten Day, celebrated on the birthday of Friedrich Froebel, the creator of the first kindergarten.

Further reading: We do not inherit the Earth from our Ancestors, we borrow it from our Children. - Native American traditional

Rabindranath Tagore: Every child comes with the message that God is not yet discouraged of man.

Choose to be as a young child - fully awake, eager for the next experience. - Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Inspirational Family Quotes: Sayings-Quotes about Loving Families

Inspirational Stories: Inspiring short story of gratitude and love

The greatest weapon against stress is our ability to choose one thought over another. William James

The greatest weapon against stress is our ability to choose one thought over another.
- William James

When I look back on all these worries, I remember the story of the old man who said on his deathbed that he had had a lot of trouble in his life, most of which had never happened.
- Winston Churchill

What we think, we become.
All that we are arises with our thoughts.
With our thoughts, we make the world.
- The Buddha

Let me bring peace into moments of chaos.
- jlh

Further reading: How to Relieve Stress and Lead a Stress-Free Life

Having a Bad Hair Day?

Say NO to Stress: 8 Easy and Powerful Ways - Jonathan Lockwood Huie

I find hope in the darkest of days, and focus in the brightest. Dalai Lama

A person without a sense of humor is like a wagon without springs. Henry Ward Beecher

A person without a sense of humor is like a wagon without springs. It's jolted by every pebble on the road. - >

Henry Ward Beecher 

  Through humor, you can soften some of the worst blows that life delivers. And once you find laughter, no matter how painful your situation might be, you can survive it. - Bill Cosby 

  Life's burdens are lighter when I laugh at myself. - Jonathan Lockwood Huie 

 Further reading: Deflect the blows of life 

  How To Be Happy In Life - The 9 Paths To Happiness

Imagination is more important than knowledge. Albert Einstein

Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited to all we now know and understand, while imagination embraces the entire world, and all there ever will be to know and understand.
- Albert Einstein

The mind of man is continuously unfolding into a greater recognition of its real plan in the creative order of the Universe.
- Ernest Holmes

The effect on worldwide air travel from the eruption of a fairly small volcano in Iceland reminds me of how fragile our lives are. We have come to assume that we will always have our grocery stores, our imported clothes, our cell phones and televisions, the ability for our goods and ourselves to travel around the world in hours. But reading today's news tells a different story. No human knows whether air travel will be back to normal next week or whether a larger eruption might be triggered such as the 1783 eruption in Iceland that caused the worldwide "year with no summer" with the Mississippi river freezing in New Orleans.

My purpose in writing this is not to cause fear, but the exact reverse. Our external lives are uncertain, always changing, and always will be - in so many ways. What we CAN count on is changeless inner serenity that comes from our Higher Power.

Be clear what is important in life, and never confuse the eternal rock with the uncertain and sometimes cataclysmic events of the physical world.

Further reading: Albert Einstein quote: The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious

Albert Einstein: There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.

Ernest Holmes: Life is a mirror and will reflect back to the thinker what he thinks into it.

What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us. Ralph Waldo Emerson

What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us. - Ralph Waldo Emerson 

  We can let circumstances rule us, or we can take charge and rule our lives from within. - Earl Nightingale 

 You are more powerful than the circumstances that buffet you. Believe in yourself and take action on that belief. 

 Further reading: Circumstance does not make the man: it reveals him to himself. - James Allen 

  I choose to adapt to the circumstances in which I find myself. 

  Epictetus: We cannot choose our external circumstances, but we can always choose how to respond to them.

The biggest adventure you can take is to live the life of your dreams. Oprah Winfrey

The biggest adventure you can take is to live the life of your dreams. - Oprah Winfrey 

 Be curious; be adventurous; live life full-out. Accept the challenge and reach for the brass ring. 

- jlh

 Further reading: Adventure is not outside man; it is within. George Eliot 

  Life is no brief candle to me - George Bernard Shaw 

  A ship in harbor is safe, but that is not what ships are for. - John A. Shedd 

  Helen Keller: Life is either a daring adventure or nothing

Confidence comes not from always being right but from not fearing to be wrong. Peter T. Mcintyre

Confidence comes not from always being right but from not fearing to be wrong.
- Peter T. Mcintyre

The secret of making dreams come true can be summarized in four C's. 

 They are Curiosity, Confidence, Courage, and Constancy; 

and the greatest of these is Confidence.
- Walt Disney

Confidence is contagious. So is lack of confidence.
- Vince Lombardi

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

It is neither good nor bad, but thinking makes it so. William Shakespeare

It is neither good nor bad, but thinking makes it so. - William Shakespeare

Thinking isn't agreeing or disagreeing. That's voting. - Robert Frost 

  The only place where your dream becomes impossible is in your own thinking. - Robert H. Schuller 

  A man should look for what is, and not for what he thinks should be. - Albert Einstein 

  Thinking is necessary, but not sufficient, for living a great life. - jlh 

 Further reading: The Nature of Beliefs 

  don Miguel Ruiz: Be skeptical, but learn to listen. 

  Value your own opinion more, and others' opinions less - Jonathan Lockwood Huie 

  Leonardo da Vinci: Where there is shouting, there is no true knowledge

Worry is the interest paid by those who borrow trouble. George Washington

Worry is the interest paid by those who borrow trouble.
- George Washington

If only the people who worry about their liabilities would think about the riches they do possess, they would stop worrying.
- Dale Carnegie

You can't change the past, but you can ruin the present by worrying about the future.
- Anonymous

Do not anticipate trouble, or worry about what may never happen. Keep in the sunlight.
- Benjamin Franklin

Forgive yourself and everyone else. Always do your best. Trust your Higher Power. Take a deep breath and stop worrying.

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

Never Let Anyone Get Your Goat, Push Your Buttons, Get You Riled Up, or Annoy You - jlh

As we grow as unique persons, we learn to respect the uniqueness of others. Robert H. Schuller

Every man and woman is born into the world to do something unique and something distinctive; and if he or she does not do it, it will never be done.
- Benjamin E. Mays

As we grow as unique persons, we learn to respect the uniqueness of others.
- Robert H. Schuller

God's Spirit moves through us and the world at a pace that can never be constricted by any one religious paradigm. I love that.
- Bono (Paul David Hewson)

I am a Unique Expression of the Universal Fabric of Creation.
I celebrate both my uniqueness and my connection with all that is.
- jlh

Each of us has a unique perception of the world. What if we could all celebrate our different ideas and beliefs rather than argue and fight wars over our differences.

Exercise: Recall a recent time when someone was strongly critical of your opinions (perhaps your political or religious beliefs). Now, put yourself in their shoes - with compassion. Try to understand and appreciate their point-of-view - not to change your own opinions, but to celebrate all our human differences - in peace.

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Some of you have asked about the pictures that appear in Daily Inspirations. Some of the pictures are public domain - either because they are very old, or because they come from sources such as NASA. The rest of the pictures have been taken either by myself or my wife Suze. Many of these pictures, including the eagle, pelican, and sunset pictures were taken very close to home. I carry a camera with me whenever I go for a walk.

Further reading: Stand Tall, Stand Proud

Positive Affirmations

Self-respect is not a function of size, age, or wealth. - jlh

Joy blooms where minds and hearts are open. - jlh

Perspectives on the Nature of God - Which of these Five Views Matches Yours?

A person with a new idea is a crank until the idea succeeds. Mark Twain

A person with a new idea is a crank until the idea succeeds. - Mark Twain 

To go against the dominant thinking of your friends, of most of the people you see every day, is perhaps the most difficult act of heroism you can perform. - Theodore H. White 

  It is easy in the world to live after the world's opinions; it is easy in solitude to live after your own; but the great man is he who in the midst of the crowd keeps with perfect sweetness the independence of solitude - Ralph Waldo Emerson 

 Attempting to "fit in" is not a worthy objective. There is no point in feeling sad or upset when your plans, your ideas, or even your fundamental nature do not "fit in" with the majority view. Be the courageous hero and stay committed to your greatest ideas and ideals, however they are received by those around you. 

 Further reading: A hero is someone who has given his life to something bigger than himself or something other than himself. - Joseph Campbell 

  Jimmy Yen - My Personal Greatest Hero 

  I do not need anyone's permission to be my true self. - jlh

Loneliness and the feeling of being unwanted is the most terrible poverty. Mother Teresa

Loneliness and the feeling of being unwanted is the most terrible poverty.
- Mother Teresa

I have never found a companion that was so companionable as solitude. We are for the most part more lonely when we go abroad among men than when we stay in our chambers.
- Henry David Thoreau

If you are lonely when you're alone, you are in bad company.
- Jean-Paul Sartre

If I am a legend, then why am I so lonely?
- Judy Garland

Loneliness is not what it seems. One does not feel lonely because one is alone, but because of a feeling of lack - a feeling that something is missing. Loneliness is essentially independent of how many other humans are around. It has much more to do with one's self-esteem - one's sense of inherent worth.

How can people like Henry David Thoreau happily spend months in solitude while Judy Garland and many other famous people feel lonely in the midst of adoring crowds? A good part of the answer lies in how much you like yourself and how confident you feel.

Further reading: Paul Tillich: Language... has created the word "loneliness" to express the pain of being alone. And it has created the word "solitude" to express the

Intelligence is the ability to adapt to change. Stephen Hawking

Intelligence is the ability to adapt to change.
- Stephen Hawking

Strategy without tactics is the slowest route to victory. Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.
- Sun Tzu

Be resolute in your goals, but flexible in your tactics.
- jlh

The very nature of the world is constant change. You set a goal and create a plan to achieve it; then the assumptions on which you based your plan change - they always do. The challenge is to retain your goals while adapting your tactics. Relax and stay flexible in order to reach your goals and maintain your happiness.

The phrase "tilting at windmills" (from the fictional character Don Quixote - shown in today's picture) epitomizes the hopelessness of a determined but inflexible approach. Far better to change your tactics than to fail - however nobly.

Further reading: Change always comes bearing gifts

Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened.

Success Tip: Drive Change

Intention versus Expectation (Demand)

He who lives in harmony with himself lives in harmony with the universe. Marcus Aurelius

Harmony

We cannot change anything until we accept it.
- Carl Jung

Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony.
- Mohandas (Mahatma) Gandhi

He who lives in harmony with himself lives in harmony with the universe.
- Marcus Aurelius

The highest education is that which does not merely give us information but makes our life in harmony with all existence.
- Rabindranath Tagore

Harmony (the quality of forming a pleasing and consistent whole) is one of the qualities of a great life. Let all the aspects of your nature be in harmony with each other, and let your existence be in harmony with all of creation.

Further reading: Carl Jung quotes

Urgency is a grim taskmaster. Escape time, and life becomes irie. - jlh

How To Talk Yourself Into Making Personal Changes

The Dog Who Came to Dinner

The following is my retelling of a very old parable...

A very devout man had the practice of praying each day, and having long conversations with God. Longing to meet God in person, one day he invited God to join him for a meal. To the man's great surprise, God accepted, and an appointment time was set.

The man shopped for the very finest foods and prepared them with a skilled and patient hand. Then he washed himself, put on his finest clothes, and sat in his comfortable chair waiting for God.

At exactly the appointed time, there was a thump at the door. When the man opened the door, a black dog raced past him, leapt onto the table, and began devouring the food the man had so carefully prepared for God. Enraged that the dog was spoiling his dinner with God, the man grabbed a stick and began beating the dog. The dog howled at the blows, then ran out the door whimpering.

The man did his best to repair the table and the fine food. He waited for the rest of the day, but there was no knock on the door. Finally the man gave up waiting. He was certain that God had not come because the dinner had been spoiled by the dog.

The man prayed to God, "I am so sorry the dinner was ruined by that wretched dog. Please, please come to dine with me tomorrow. I will prepare all new and wonderful food." The image of God appeared before the man. Cuts and bruises were on God's head and side. "I came to your house today at the appointed time. I was very hungry, so I came in the form of a dog in order to best enjoy your fine food, but you beat me and chased me away."

Moral: God lives in the least of us.

Further reading: A Story of Money

Where There is Love, Nothing is Missing - a Parable

The Cab Ride

Stress is nothing more than a socially acceptable form of mental illness. Richard Carlson

Stress is nothing more than a socially acceptable form of mental illness.
- Richard Carlson

It seems that we have it backward in our society. We tend to look up to people who are under a great deal of stress, who can handle loads of stress, and those who are under a great deal of pressure.
- Richard Carlson

Stress is not inevitable, even in our modern society. One can make choices and set priorities that minimize stress. For the stress that still remains, conscious breathing, walking, and other exercises are very helpful.

Read more in my new article 7 Tips for Stress-Free Living.

Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear, not absence of fear. Mark Twain

Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear, not absence of fear.
- Mark Twain

Do the thing you fear most and the death of fear is certain.
- Mark Twain

Action is our greatest weapon against fear. Left to molder, fear grows upon itself, but in the face of action, fear is left in the dust.

Further reading: Today is your day to paint life in bold colors - jlh

ACTION - the sixth Point of Simply An Inspired Life

Mark Twain quote: Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did do. Throw off the bowlines.

Mark Twain quotes

Our Lord has written the promise of the resurrection, not in books alone, but in every leaf in spring-time. Martin Luther

Our Lord has written the promise of the resurrection, not in books alone, but in every leaf in spring-time.
- Martin Luther

Today, Easter, the most Holy day on the Christian calendar, is a day to celebrate our spiritual natures. We are not just bones and flesh, chemicals and electricity, we are beings of Spirit, one with each other and one with the eternity and infinity of Creation.

For me, the most powerful expressions of true Christianity in this material world are an unconditional love of all humans and an uncompromising commitment to caring for all who are sick, infirm, or troubled - as expressed in the biblical story of the Good Samaritan.

Further reading: Unanswered Prayers

Easter message: Love even those who hate you

Have a Conversation with God, Today

Jesus own Words about Forgiveness and Unconditional Love

Watch your thoughts, for they become words.

Watch your thoughts, for they become words. Watch your words, for they become actions. Watch your actions, for they become habits. Watch your habits, for they become character. Watch your character, for it becomes your destiny. - Anonymous 

 Further reading: Choose Your Habits, Choose Your Life - 5 Secrets For Breaking Your Bad Habits 

  9 Secrets for Getting Un-Stuck

Albert Einstein: Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results

Death is not extinguishing the light; it is only putting out the lamp because the dawn has come. Rabindranath Tagore

Death is not extinguishing the light; it is only putting out the lamp because the dawn has come. - Rabindranath Tagore There is no death, only a change of worlds. - Chief Seattle Let us take today, Good Friday on the Christian calendar, to consider our own mortality... Our time on earth is limited, so make each moment count. Set goals. Take action. Begin today and again tomorrow. For those of true faith, death is not a time to mourn, but a time to celebrate returning to the Creator. Further reading: What lies beyond the veil? Life and Death: Steve Jobs Stanford Commencement Speech 2005 5 Ways To Cope With Loss, Grief and the Fear Of Your Own Mortality

I find hope in the darkest of days, and focus in the brightest. Dalai Lama

I find hope in the darkest of days, and focus in the brightest. I do not judge the universe.
- Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama

Your worst enemy cannot harm you as much as your own unguarded thoughts.
- The Buddha

Life just is. Whether we perceive life as hard, pleasant, challenging, exciting, stressful, or otherwise is a result of our perceptions and our way of thinking.

Further reading: Be Here Now - Ram Dass

Carpe Diem - Seize The Day

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

Dalai Lama quotes

Buddha quotes