Gratitude for Life

We return thanks to our mother,
the earth, which sustains us.
We return thanks to the rivers and streams
which supply us with water.
We return thanks to all herbs, which furnish medicines
for the cure of our diseases.
We return thanks to the corn, and to her sisters,
the beans and squashes, which give us life. ...
We return thanks to the sun,
that he has looked upon the earth with a beneficent eye.
Lastly, we return thanks to the Great Spirit,
in whom is embodied all goodness,
and who directs all things for the good of his children.
- Iroquois traditional

Believe in the goodness of life.
Believe in the power of time to heal and to renew.
Believe in the power of forgiveness and gratitude.
Believe in the gift of rainbows and butterflies.
Believe in the laughter of children.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Zero-Based Gratitude

Celebrating Rainbows and Butterflies - the Small Miracles of Our Life

A List of Gratitudes

Comparisons are Odious

Gratitude Quotes

Quotes about Life

Quotes about Wealth

Quotes about Nature

Quotes about Clarity

Appreciate Yourself

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

Be gentle first with yourself.
- Lama Yeshe

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

Believe in yourself, and trust your own wisdom
rather than being swayed by the opinions of others.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: How to Feel Good About Yourself

How to Stay Positive

How to Move On and Let Go

more Self Esteem Articles

Quotes about Being Yourself

Self Esteem Quotes

Quotes about Thoughts

New Day Quotes

Quotes about Experience

Focus

The Main Thing is to Keep
The Main Thing The Main Thing.
- Stephen Covey

We can always choose to perceive things differently.
You can focus on what's wrong in your life,
or you can focus on what's right.
- Marianne Williamson

Almost nothing you worry about today
will matter in a hundred years.
Think carefully about what you can focus on today.
Choose tasks that will actually make a positive difference
to your great-grandchildren.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Time, Like Life Itself, Has No Inherent Meaning

The Jump is So Frightening - Mary Anne Radmacher

Pay It Forward

Plant Trees For Your Grandchildren

Quotes about Focus

Quotes about Meaning

Quotes about Generations

Quotes about the World

Quotes about The Future

Discovery

Who never walks save where he sees
men's tracks, makes no discoveries.
- J. G. Holland

Mistakes are the portals of discovery.
- James Joyce

The voyage of discovery is not in seeking new landscapes
but in having new eyes.
- Marcel Proust

I release the familiar that I may better discover my inspiring future.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: How to Move On and Let Go

Abundance or Scarcity? Love or Fear?

How to Be Yourself

Quotes about Discovery

Know Thyself

Moving On Quotes

Philosophical Quotes

Quotes to Live By

Zen Koans

Aspire

Our aspirations are our possibilities.
- Robert Browning

Follow what you are genuinely passionate about
and let that guide you to your destination.
- Diane Sawyer

Do not lose hold of your dreams or aspirations.
For if you do, you may still exist but you have ceased to live.
- Henry David Thoreau

As we come to the closing of this year, and the birth of a new year, reexamine that to which you aspire. Do you need different goals? Or perhaps the same destination, but a better way to get there?

Further reading: How to Choose Your Life Purpose

Success Tip: Drive Change

Daily Journaling - How to Begin a Rewarding Journaling Practice

Quotes about Goals

Life Purpose Quotes

Quotes about Aspirations

New Beginning Quotes

Quotes about Courage

Measure

The full measure of a man is
not to be found in the man himself,
but in the colors and textures that
come alive in others because of him.
- Albert Schweitzer

The true measure of a man is how he treats someone
who can do him absolutely no good.
- Samuel Johnson

The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands
in moments of comfort and convenience,
but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.
- Martin Luther King, Jr.

Don't let anyone else take the measure
of your worth and capabilities.
Always stand proud in who you are.
- Margaret Spellings

How do you measure yourself? In years? In wealth, In friends? In contribution to future generations?

Further reading: Pay It Forward

Renewal and Rebirth - The Great Cycle

Quotes about Children

Quotes about Growing Up

Quotes about Age

Measure Quotes

Quotes about Light

Quotes about Service

Quotes about Legacy

Merry Christmas

Christmas is a season for kindling the fire for hospitality in the hall, the genial flame of charity in the heart. - Washington Irving Christmas is not a time nor a season, but a state of mind. To cherish peace and goodwill, to be plenteous in mercy, is to have the real spirit of Christmas. - Calvin Coolidge May you have the gladness of Christmas which is hope; The spirit of Christmas which is peace; The heart of Christmas which is love. - Ada V. Hendricks Have a very merry Christmas. Whether or not you are a devout Christian, please take a few minutes today to consider Jesus' message of universal compassion and brotherly love.

Feeling Lonely and Depressed?

When you get the choice to sit it out or dance, I hope you dance.
- Lee Ann Womack

The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.
- Franklin D. Roosevelt

No one knows what he can do until he tries.
- Publilius Syrus

Spending the holidays without family can feel depressing, but if you are not with your family this holiday, take positive steps to feel good about yourself: affirm your self worth, spend time with your religious (or community) group, and extend yourself to be of service to the less fortunate.

Do you know someone who is not with their family this holiday? Invite them to spend the day with yours.

Further reading: How to Cope with Loneliness

the important differences between self esteem and self confidence

The Future

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

The best way to predict the future is to create it.
- Peter F. Drucker

There is a great future in front of you,
you can leave your past behind.
- Joel Osteen

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

Further reading: The World We Leave Our Children

Tomorrow

How to Choose Your Life Purpose

Plant Trees For Your Grandchildren

Quotes about The Future

Quotes about Vision

Quotes about Dreams

Quotes about Action

Quotes to Live By

The Question

The question is not what you look at, but what you see.
- Henry David Thoreau

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

Could a greater miracle take place
than for us to look through each other's eyes for an instant?
- Henry David Thoreau

Further reading: Question Your Questions

Assumptions

Five Questions to Ask Yourself When You Feel Sad for No Apparent Reason

5 Questions to Ask Yourself Before Offering Helpful Advice

Henry David Thoreau Quotes

Question Quotes

Quotes about Answers

Quotes about Thought

Quotes about Adventure

Breathe

The time to relax is when you don't have time for it.
- Sydney Harris

Persevere. Plan. Strategize. Focus. Breathe. Write.
Let go: relax. Forgive. All this failing: take a nap.
- Mary Anne Radmacher

They don't call them DEADlines for nothing - keep breathing.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Let this season of joy truly be a season of joy. It is far too easy to get caught up in the DOing, and forget to relax, to love, and to enjoy. Stop, look around, breathe, be grateful for everything.

Further reading: Conscious Breathing to Relieve Stress

Ten Little Tips to Feel Happier Right Now

Say NO to Stress

Seven Tips for Stress-Free Living

Differences

Fear of difference is fear of life itself.
- M. P. Follett

I never considered a difference of opinion
in politics, in religion, in philosophy,
as cause for withdrawing from a friend.
- Thomas Jefferson

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.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Share our similarities, celebrate our differences.
- M. Scott Peck

Further reading: Celebrate

Joy Blooms Where Minds and Hearts are Open

Perspective on Tradition: An Open Mind

The Nature of Belief

Point of View Quotes

Quotes about Perspective

Quotes about Compassion

Quotes about Cooperation

Quotes by Thomas Jefferson

Sweet Quotes

Your Best

Simply do your best, and you will avoid self-judgment, self-abuse and regret. - don Miguel Ruiz 

 Success comes from knowing that you did your best to become the best that you are capable of becoming. - John Wooden 

 Sometimes you get the results you wanted, sometimes you don't. What matters is that you did your best. - Jonathan Lockwood Huie 

 Further reading: Play to win, but be a good loser 

  How to Forgive and Move On 

  Overcome Being Negative

What Lies Within Us

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

Go within every day and find the inner strength
so that the world will not blow your candle out.
- Katherine Dunham

Outer show is a poor substitute for inner worth.
- Aesop

Your inner thoughts reveal your true nature.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Carry beauty with us

Gratitude for All of Life

Miracles Need Both God and You

My Favorite Quotes to Live By

Inner Voice Quotes

Within You Quotes

Words of Inspiration

Transformation

When we quit thinking primarily about ourselves
and our own self-preservation,
we undergo a truly heroic transformation of consciousness.
- Joseph Campbell

If you begin to understand what you are
without trying to change it,
then what you are undergoes a transformation.
- Jiddu Krishnamurti

At all times and under all circumstances,
we have the power to transform the quality of our lives.
- Werner Erhard

Further reading: What is Transformation?

Miracles Need Both God and You

Why be Reasonable?

Acceptance

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) 

 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. 

 Further reading: Love versus Attachment 

  Life Happens 

  Enjoy what you have

Living a Life You Love

Happiness depends upon ourselves. - Aristotle 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. - Albert Einstein Life may not be the party we hoped for, but while we are here we might as well dance. - Anonymous Further reading: The Secret of Happiness Ten Little Tips to Feel Happier Right Now How to Think Positive

Holiday Season

The best of all gifts around any Christmas tree
is the presence of a happy family all wrapped up in each other.
- Burton Hills

What if Christmas, he thought, doesn't come from a store.
What if Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more.
- Dr. Seuss

The holiday season promotes
a heightened sense of community.
It draws our chins up and
helps us look above and over
the limiting fence of our own events,
activities and preoccupations.
The opportunity for a heroic gesture
can tap you quietly on the shoulder
in the midst of a holiday bustle.
If you are attentive,
you will notice the gentle touch
and will be able to respond. Remember...
There are no small acts of kindness.
Every compassionate act makes large the world.
- Mary Anne Radmacher

Further Reading: Today is a gift

Love, Celebration, and Humor

Index of my articles

Christmas Quotes

Holiday Quotes

Inspiring Quotes about Life

Quotes about Compassion

Short Inspirational Quotes

Words of Comfort

Togetherness

The magic words for a great relationship are,
"I love you just the way you are."
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Who, being loved, is poor?
- Oscar Wilde

Marriage, ultimately, is the practice of becoming passionate friends.
- Harville Hendrix

Love that does not renew itself every day becomes a habit and in turn a slavery.
- Khalil Gibran

Further reading: The #1 Secret of Great Relationships

What is Love?

Where There is Love, Nothing is Missing - a Parable

Relationship Quotes

Inspirational Love Quotes

Encouraging Quotes

Quotes about Loving You

Friendship Quotes

Overcoming

Although the world is full of suffering,
it is full also of the overcoming of it.
My optimism, then, does not rest on the absence of evil,
but on a glad belief in the preponderance of good
and a willing effort always to cooperate with the good,
that it may prevail.
- Helen Keller

He who has overcome his fears will truly be free.
- Aristotle

Success is to be measured not so much
by the position that one has reached in life
as by the obstacles which he has overcome.
- Booker T. Washington

The marvelous richness of human experience
would lose something of rewarding joy
if there were no limitations to overcome.
The hilltop hour would not be half so wonderful
if there were no dark valleys to traverse.
- Helen Keller

Further reading: Adversity

Obstacles

Quotes about overcoming

Quotes about obstacles

Quotes about adversity

Quotes about storms

Quotes about stress

Choosing Joy

If we had no winter, the spring would not be so pleasant.
If we did not sometimes taste of adversity, prosperity would not be so welcome.
- Anne Bradstreet

One who gains strength by overcoming obstacles
possesses the only strength which can overcome adversity.
- Albert Schweitzer

The Joy is in the Journey.
- Anonymous

Our mettle is tested by storms,
not by calm.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Joyful Living

Simple Joys

Secrets for a Happy Life

Quotes about Joy

Quotes about Choice

Quotes about Fear

Quotes about Suffering

Quotes about Pain

Encouragement

When one door of happiness closes, another opens,
but often we look so long at the closed door
that we do not see the one that has been opened for us.
- Helen Keller

When you get the choice to sit it out or dance, I hope you dance.
- Lee Ann Womack

We shall find peace. We shall hear angels.
We shall never know all the good that a simple smile can do.
- Mother Teresa

Even from the darkest night songs of beauty can be born.
- Mary Anne Radmacher

Further reading: Joy is a Choice - but Not an Easy Choice

Attitude is Everything

How to Deal with Rejection

Words of Encouragement

Quotes to Live By

Quotes that Make You Think

Inspirational Words

Quotes about Being Strong

Season of Kindness

The smallest act of kindness
is worth more than the grandest intention.
- Oscar Wilde

The whole worth of a kind deed is
in the love that inspires it.
- The Talmud

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

Let this be the season of kindness and compassion.

Further reading: My thoughts on Kindness, Charity, and Religion

Your legacy to future generations

Quotes about Kindness

Quotes about Compassion

Quotes about Generosity

Quotes about Service

Quotes about Gratitude

Quotes about Forgiveness

Creating Peace

What can you do to promote world peace?
Go home and love your family.
- Mother Teresa

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

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

Guide our feet into the way of peace.
- Luke 1:79

Let there be peace on earth.
And let it begin with me.
- Jill Jackson Miller

Today in My World: Visualize peace. Create peace around yourself. Then let that peace keep expanding.



You can put my Daily Positive Affirmation widget on your own blog, website, email signature, or anywhere else that accepts html. Get the code at www.jonathanlockwoodhuie.com

Further reading: Choose Inner Peace

Imagine

How to Stop Worrying

Quotes about Peace

Inner Peace quotes

Quotes about Unity

Quotes about Spirit

Quotes about Non-violence

Finishing

Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could; some blunders and absurdities have crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day; you shall begin it serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense. - Ralph Waldo Emerson 

 "Begin at the beginning," the King said, very gravely, "and go on till you come to the end: then stop." - Lewis Carroll 

 Further reading: Completion 

  Getting Un-Stuck 

  Choose Your Habits, Choose Your Life

Tis the Season

May your season shine with delight and surprise.
- Mary Anne Radmacher

Love is a fruit in season at all times,
and within reach of every hand.
- Mother Teresa

Pay attention to rainbows, and snowflakes,
butterflies and the songs of birds,
the crash of storm-driven waves
and the mirror-surface of a quiet pond.
Let the depths of nature become a part of your innermost being.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Winter Blahs

This is my wish for you...

Quotes of Love, Celebration, and Humor

Rest and renewal

Season Quotes

Christmas Quotes

Quotes about Love

Quotes about Friendship

Quotes about Winter

Happy New Year Quotes

Christian Quotes about Love

Risk a Little

Be avid.
Create apart from perfection.
Risk failure.
Cover your words with sweat.
Run a little
Touch excruciatingly.
Laugh until you cry.
Dance with your eyes closed.
Care.
Understand you die a little in every moment.
Be Enlivened
- Mary Anne Radmacher

With courage you will dare to take risks,
have the strength to be compassionate,
and the wisdom to be humble.
Courage is the foundation of integrity.
- Keshavan Nair

Life is defined more by its risks than by its samenesses.
- Mary Anne Radmacher

The trouble is,
if you don't risk anything,
you risk even more.
- Erica Jong

Further reading: Is Now a Time to be Reasonable?

How to Make a Decision You Won't Regret

When is Your Best Good Enough?

Mary Anne Radmacher Quotes

Gandhi Quotes

Eleanor Roosevelt

Joseph Addison Quotes

Thomas Jefferson Quotes

Good Works

Good works are links that form a chain of love.
- Mother Teresa

The worst sin toward our fellow creatures
is not to hate them,
but to be indifferent to them:
that's the essence of inhumanity.
- George Bernard Shaw

The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.
- Mohandas (Mahatma) Gandhi

Further reading: The Cab Ride

Service

Leave the world a bit better

Money

Do what you love and the money will follow.
- Marsha Sinetar

Money won't make you happy...
but everybody wants to find out for themselves.
- Zig Ziglar

Too many people spend money they haven't earned,
to buy things they don't want,
to impress people they don't like.
- Will Rogers

Wealth is the ability to fully experience life.
- Henry David Thoreau

What is money? Is money the root of all evil? Is money a measure of success in life? Is money something we "need?" Is money something to be avoided? The answer to all those questions is No. Strip away the emotional baggage that most people carry regarding the subject of money, and you find that money is simply a medium of exchange, an advancement on the barter system. Today, take a few minutes to write what "money" means to you. Then examine what you wrote to see if you can remove the emotional aspects of your thinking about money.

Further reading: How to Save Money while Living Well

Your Example

Being a role model is the most powerful form of educating. 

Youngsters need good models more than they need critics. 

It's one of a parent's greatest responsibilities and opportunities.
- John Wooden

The full measure of a man is
not to be found in the man himself,
but in the colors and textures that
come alive in others because of him.
- Albert Schweitzer

Example is not the main thing in influencing others.
It is the only thing.
- Albert Schweitzer

In Iroquois society, leaders are encouraged to remember 

seven generations in the past and consider seven generations 

in the future when making decisions that affect the people.

- Wilma Mankiller

Your example is far more influential and inspiring than 

any words of instruction, or threats, or even words of encouragement.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Everything you do, and everything you do not do, is your legacy to future generations.

 
Further reading: Pay It Forward

Plant Trees For Your Grandchildren

Affirmations of an Inspired Life - Young-Adult Version 

   (Share this with the young people in your life)

Feel Your Power

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

The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.
- Franklin D. Roosevelt

This above all, to thine own self be true.
- William Shakespeare

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

Further reading: How to be Successful in Business

Success Tip: Drive Change

Choose Your Habits, Choose Your Life

Boldly Sail the Storms of Life

Empowering Quotes

Powerful Quotes

Quotes about Being Strong

Amazing Quotes

Deep Quotes