Open Minds

Minds are like parachutes.
They only function when they are open.
- James Dewar

Only when we realize that there is no eternal,
unchanging truth or absolute truth, can we arouse in
ourselves a sense of intellectual responsibility.
- Hu Shih

Tolerance implies no lack of commitment to one's own beliefs.
Rather it condemns the oppression or persecution of others.
- John F. Kennedy

Love is saying "I feel differently," instead of "You're wrong."
- Anonymous

You never really understand a person
until you consider things from his point of view.
- Harper Lee

Approach life with an Open Mind,
Clean Hands, and a Loving Heart.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Perspective of Love

Perspective on Tradition: An Open Mind

Reason

My Own Person

Imagination

Fully Awake

Observe

To acquire knowledge, one must study;
but to acquire wisdom, one must observe.
- Marilyn vos Savant

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

The ultimate court of appeal is observation and experiment...
not authority.
- Thomas Huxley

A point of view can be a dangerous luxury when substituted for insight and understanding.
- Marshall McLuhan

Reason, observation, and experience; the holy trinity of science.
- Robert Green Ingersoll

Be an Observer of Life.
Gaining wisdom from carefully observing life is not a substitute for action -
it is a prerequisite for informed action.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Today's Affirmation:
I am a Passionate Observer of Life.
I See the events, feel the emotions,
and recognize the difference.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Life is All in the Perspective We Take on It

Pay Attention

Lifelong Learning

What You See

Travel Opens the Traveler

New Eyes

Happiness in Cheering Others

Happiness... consists in giving, and in serving others.
- Henry Drummond

Being happy doesn't mean that everything is perfect.
It means that you've decided to look beyond the imperfections.
- Anonymous

The best way to cheer yourself
is to try to cheer someone else up.
- Mark Twain

There is no way to happiness, happiness is the way.
- Anonymous

Happiness depends more on the inward disposition of mind,
than on outward circumstances.
- Benjamin Franklin

Further reading: 7 Secrets for a Happy Life

Choosing a Happy Life

Happiness Depends upon Ourselves

Sharing Happiness

More on Sharing Happiness

A Little Help from My Friends
 

Stand Tall and Proud

Be more concerned with your character than your reputation.
- John Wooden

Stand Tall, Stand Proud.
Know that you are unique and magnificent.
You do not need the approval of others.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Self-confidence is the first requisite to great undertakings.
- Samuel Johnson

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

That you may retain your self-respect, it is better
to displease the people by doing what you know is right,
than to temporarily please them by doing what you know is wrong.
- William J. H. Boetcker

All the Daily Inspirations ever sent (over 2000 in the past 5 years) are always available to view at www.jlhuie.com

Further reading: Gain Self Confidence

Ego versus Self Respect

Be Your Own Self

Feel Better About Yourself

Value Honor, Not Ego

Value Your Own Approval

Becoming Love

You know that you have fully experienced love
when you turn into love -
that is the spiritual goal of life.
- Deepak Chopra

We live in a spiritual Universe.
God is in, through, around and for us.
- Ernest Holmes

Love is an act of faith,
and whoever is of little faith is also of little love.
- Erich Fromm

Know that anger is always fear and frustration.
What if we could lean back into the arms of Spirit
and trust the future?
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Trust in the Light

Feel Your Connection With the Infinite - a Meditation

Have a Conversation With God, Today

Spiritual Quotes about Love

The Power of Unconditional Love
 

Inquiry

Inquiry is fatal to certainty.
- Will Durant

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

Doubt is the incentive to truth and inquiry leads the way.
- Hosea Ballou

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

What each must seek in his life never was on land or sea.
It is something out of his own unique potentiality for experience,
something that never has been and never could
have been experienced by anyone else.
- Joseph Campbell

It is error only, and not truth, that shrinks from inquiry.
- Thomas Paine

Everything is not as it appears to be.
- Proverb

Today's photo of deep space taken from the NASA Hubble Space Telescope would have been unimaginable a century ago.

Further reading: Practice Conscious Awareness

Assumptions

The Book of Life

Rules For Living A Successful Life

Perspective

Seeking

Wisdom

An Attitude of Gratitude

My joy is the golden sunset
giving thanks for another day.
Gratitude itself is a source of joy.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

As the evening beckons with the promise of tomorrow...
may your gratitude rise up and with strength answer, "yes."
- Mary Anne Radmacher

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

Develop an attitude of gratitude,
and give thanks for everything that happens to you,
knowing that every step forward is a step toward
achieving something bigger and better than your current situation.
- Brian Tracy

Gratitude is an attitude that hooks us up to our source of supply.
And the more grateful you are, the closer you become to your maker,
to the architect of the universe, to the spiritual core of your being.
- Bob Proctor

Today's affirmation: I Receive ALL of Life with Thanksgiving.

Further reading: 7 Secrets for a Happy Life

The Small Miracles of Our Life

A List of Gratitudes

Pay It Forward

How Good Things Really Are

How To Stop Worrying (an exercise)

Beyond Failure

Success consists of going from failure to failure
without loss of enthusiasm.
- Winston Churchill

Success is a state of mind.
If you want success, start thinking of yourself as a success.
- Dr. Joyce Brothers

In order to succeed, you must first be willing to fail.
- Anonymous

Failure does not exist.
Failure is simply someone else's opinion
of how a certain act should have been completed.
Once you believe that no act must be performed
in any specific other-directed way,
then failing becomes impossible.
- Wayne Dyer

Success is not final, failure is not fatal.
It is the courage to continue that counts.
- Winston Churchill

Fall seven times, stand up eight.
- Japanese Proverb

Understand the difference between "failing,"
which each of us does often,
and "being a failure,"
which is a state of mind no one should
ever allow themself to fall into.

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

Know that your true self,
a spiritual being,
is always perfect.

Further reading: What is Failure?

Win Some, Lose Some

Being Wrong

Looking Foolish

Step Forward

Never Give Up

Extending Love

We are not held back by the love we didn't receive in the past,
but by the love we're not extending in the present.
- Marianne Williamson

The greatest gift is a portion of thyself.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

We are most like God when we forgive.
- Anonymous

The greatest gift that you can give to others is the
gift of unconditional love and acceptance.
- Brian Tracy

Love wasn't put in your heart to stay.
Love isn't love until you give it away.
- Michael W. Smith

I advocate speaking words of love
with all the sincerity that can be mustered,
as frequently as possible.
- Mary Anne Radmacher

A new command I give you: Love one another.
As I have loved you, so you must love one another.
- Jesus of Nazareth (John 13:34)

Further reading: The Power of Unconditional Love

The Prayer of St. Francis of Assisi

Love and Wisdom

Unconditional Love

Love Your Neighbor

Being Kind

Welcome the Unknown

The cave you fear to enter holds the treasure you seek.
- Joseph Campbell

We all have a fear of the unknown.
What one does with that fear makes all the difference in the world.
- Lillian Russell

Don't be afraid to give up the good to go for the great.
- John D. Rockefeller

Mostly, it is human to dislike surprises -
often with great intensity.
Be open to new ways;
sometimes newness just knocks on your door;
welcome it.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Ask yourself: How is fear (fear of failure, fear of embarrassment, fear of the unknown, etc.) holding you back in life?

Further reading: Fear of the Unknown

Appreciate the Unexpected

The Power of Courage

Enthusiasm and Passion

Creating Opportunities

An Uncertain World

Your Attitude is Your Window

Better keep yourself clean and bright;
you are the window through which
you must see the world.
- George Bernard Shaw

The greatest discovery of any generation
is that a human being
can alter his life by
altering his attitude
- William James

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

Change your thoughts and you change your world.
- Norman Vincent Peale

Your attitude is the window through which you perceive the world.

Further reading: Beyond the Cloud

Your attitude determines the quality of your life

How to Stay Positive Around Negative People

Choose Your Attitude

Your world IS as you believe it is

Choice

Positive Attitude

Cease Striving

Happiness is the absence of the striving for happiness.
- Zhuangzi

The key to happiness is not to have what you want
but to want what you have.
- Anonymous

Happiness is not something ready made.
It comes from your own actions.
- Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama 

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

Resolve to keep happy, and your joy and you
shall form an invincible host against difficulties.
- Helen Keller

You can not find happiness by chasing after it.
Happiness comes from doing what you love to do,
and from being who you truly are.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: The Secret of Happiness

Ten Little Tips to Feel Happier Right Now

How to be Happy in Life by Breaking the Cycle of Self-Inflicted Suffering

Simple Pleasures

Choose To Be Happy

Quotes about Life being Beautiful

End Your Anger

Anger is like a thorn in the heart.
- Yiddish Proverb

When you are offended at any man's fault,
turn to yourself and study your own failings.
Then you will forget your anger.
- Epictetus

For every minute you remain angry,
you give up sixty seconds of peace of mind.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

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

Anger is often more hurtful than the injury that caused it.
- English Proverb

You cannot hate other people without hating yourself.
- Oprah Winfrey

He who angers you conquers you.
- Elizabeth Kenny

You create stress in your life by getting angry,
and you can instantly remove
that stress by granting forgiveness.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Being angry harms your physical, emotional, and spiritual well-being.

Further reading: Stop Anger Before it Stops You

How to Overcome Anger

Never Let Anyone Get Your Goat

Can You Really Lift Your Burden of Resentments?

Vengeance Never Works

Anger

Spread Your Wings

Without change, there would be no butterflies.
- Anonymous

Change always comes bearing gifts.
- Price Pritchett

The challenge before us is to savor the unknown
and delight in the taste of possibility.
- Mary Anne Radmacher

There is no certainty; there is only adventure.
- Roberto Assagioli

When you are through changing, you are through.
- Bruce Barton

Welcome change. Without change, we would always remain caterpillars.
Embrace change. Spread your wings. Fly high and free.

Further reading: Drive Change

Moving Forward

Later is Never

Embrace Change

Flexibility

An Unknowable Future

The Beat of the Universe

The goal of life is
to make your heartbeat match the beat of the universe,
to match your nature with Nature.
- Joseph Campbell

Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.
- Albert Einstein

Know that you are one with the earth, with the water,
with the fire, with the air that you breathe, with all living things,
and that all of these are one with Spirit.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

One touch of nature makes the whole world kin.
- William Shakespeare

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: Life's Rhythm

Let It Be

Natural World

Find Joy in Nature

Stand Rapt in Awe

Faith Plus Action

Faith plus action becomes unstoppable.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

A good example is the best sermon.
- Benjamin Franklin

What you are is God's gift to you:
what you become is your gift to God.
- Anthony Dalla Villa

Faith is taking the first step,
even when you don't see the whole staircase.
- Martin Luther King, Jr.

Further reading: Serenity in Times of Crisis

Keep Moving

Again Tomorrow

Be Unstoppable

Be an Open Channel

How God Works - an old story retold

Choose Joy Anyway

Joy is a choice - but it isn't an easy choice.
It is nearly a certainty that some
of your expectations will not be met today.
Choose Joy Anyway.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Nothing can bring you peace but yourself.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

Resolve to keep happy, and your joy
and you shall form an invincible host against difficulties.
- Helen Keller

The Joy is in the Journey.
- Anonymous

It is of the small joys and little pleasures
that the greatest of our days are built.
- Mary Anne Radmacher

Since you get more joy out of giving joy to others,
you should put a good deal of thought
into the happiness that you are able to give.
- Eleanor Roosevelt

Gratitude itself is a source of joy.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: How Can Joy be a Choice?

Not Fair, But Joyful

The Secret of Happiness

How Good Things Really Are

Enjoy Your Life

The Power of Gratitude

Simple Joys

Action Beats Inaction

If you wait to do everything until you're sure it's right,
you'll probably never do much of anything.
- Win Borden

Inaction breeds doubt and fear.
Action breeds confidence and courage.
If you want to conquer fear,
do not sit home and think about it.
Go out and get busy.
- Dale Carnegie

Nothing is so fatiguing as the eternal hanging on of an uncompleted task.
- William James

There are risks and costs to action.
But they are far less than the long range
risks of comfortable inaction.
- John F. Kennedy

Men weary as much of not doing the things they want to do
as of doing the things they do not want to do.
- Eric Hoffer

There are a hundred valid reasons why something can't be done,
but only one reason, Commitment, why it can.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: How to Gain Self Confidence

Take Charge of Your Life

A Single Step

Mistakes are Not Failure

A Can-Do Attitude

OK to Look Foolish

Do What You Can

Rejoice

Be content with what you have,
rejoice in the way things are.
When you realize there is nothing lacking,
the whole world belongs to you.
- Lao Tzu

He is a wise man who does not grieve
for the things which he has not,
but rejoices for those which he has.
- Epictetus

There is a sort of gratification in doing good
which makes us rejoice in ourselves.
- Michel de Montaigne

If the sight of the blue skies fills you with joy,
if a blade of grass springing up in the fields has power to move you,
if the simple things in nature have a message you understand,
Rejoice, for your soul is alive.
- Eleanora Duse

Life is lived in the mists -
little is fully visible, less is certain.
Yet rejoice in the unknowing,
and let all of life be a wonderful adventure.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Breathe

A Life of Abundance

Contented Living

Abundance or Scarcity? Love or Fear? 

Gratitude

Celebrate Life

Choose To Be Fearless

Let us not pray to be sheltered from dangers
but to be fearless when facing them.
- Rabindranath Tagore

Where fear is, happiness is not.
- Seneca

Security is mostly a superstition.
It does not exist in nature, nor do the children of men as a whole experience it.
Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure.
Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing.
- Helen Keller

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

Can you imagine a life with no fear?
What if faith, not fear, was your default reaction to threats?
- Max Lucado

A life lived in fear is a life half lived.
- Anonymous

Further reading: Coping with Anxiety

The Power of Courage

Eye of the Storm

Rattlesnake of the Mind 

Fear

Courage

Giving Love and Comfort

Love me when I least deserve it,
because that's when I really need it.
- Swedish Proverb

Who, being loved, is poor?
- Oscar Wilde

Remember, we all stumble, every one of us.
That's why it's a comfort to go hand in hand.
- Emily Kimbrough

Love wasn't put in your heart to stay.
Love isn't love until you give it away.
- Michael W. Smith

Love cures people - both the ones who give it
and the ones who receive it.
- Karl A. Menninger

The greatest gift that you can give to others is the
gift of unconditional love and acceptance.
- Brian Tracy

Love without jealousy. Love without need.
Let love be an unconditional gift.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: The Power of Unconditional Love

Living from Your Heart

Renewing Love

The Prayer of St. Francis of Assisi

Say It Out Loud

Love

Helping Others

Comfort

Respect

It comes down to the way you treat people.
When you treat people with dignity and respect all the time,
you can work through anything.
- John Bacon

Every human being, of whatever origin,
of whatever station, deserves respect.
We must each respect others even as we respect ourselves.
- U. Thant

Every good relationship, especially marriage, is based on respect.
If it's not based on respect,
nothing that appears to be good will last very long.
- Amy Grant

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

There is overwhelming evidence that the higher the level of self-esteem,
the more likely one will be to treat others with respect,
kindness, and generosity.
- Nathaniel Branden

There is no respect for others without humility in one's self.
- Henri Frederic Amiel

Be modest, be respectful of others, try to understand.
- Lakhdar Brahimi

Once you respect yourself, there is no longer
any reason to disrespect anyone else.
Once you are confident of your own worthiness,
the worthiness of others ceases to be an issue.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

There is magic in respecting others.
Respect customers, vendors, bosses, employees, co-workers.
Respect parents, spouses, sons, daughters.
Respect the trash collector, the mayor, the bank teller, the truck driver.

Further reading: How To Be Happy In Life

Humble Yet Confident

Condemn None

Each To Their Own

Humility

Respect

Differences

A New Day

With the new day comes new strength and new thoughts.
- Eleanor Roosevelt

Every day brings new choices.
- Martha Beck

Face your fears and doubts, and new worlds will open to you.
- Robert Kiyosaki

Courage is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm.
- Winston Churchill

Every day is a new day -
a day for new beginnings, new dreams, new action -
a day for challenge, adventure, and discovery.
TODAY, what is your goal?
What is your dream?
What action are you taking to further your goals and dreams?
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: When It's Darkest

Endings and Beginnings

The Rest of Your Life

Focus and Flexibility

Beyond Your Comfort Zone

Discovery

Choose to Love Life

I have found that if you love life,
life will love you back.
- Arthur Rubinstein

Live boldly. Laugh Loudly. Love Truly.
Play as often as you can
Work as smart as you are able.
Share your heart as deeply as you can reach.
- Mary Anne Radmacher

Life isn't about finding yourself.
Life is about creating yourself.
- George Bernard Shaw

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

Further reading: Life is a Song

Intentional Living

A Happy Life

Choose Love

Choose Life

Choose Joy

What Does Love Look Like?

What does love look like? It has the hands to help others.
It has the feet to hasten to the poor and needy.
It has eyes to see misery and want.
It has the ears to hear the sighs and sorrows of men.
That is what love looks like.
- Saint Augustine

Love is patient, love is kind.
It does not envy, it does not boast,
It is not proud. It does not dishonor others,
It is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered.
- Corinthians 13:4-8

Let us be kind;
The way is long and lonely,
And human hearts are asking for this blessing only --
That we be kind.
We cannot know the grief that men may borrow,
We cannot see the souls storm-swept by sorrow,
But love can shine upon the way to-day, to-morrow --
Let us be kind.
- W. Lomax Childress

Further reading: Love is Patient, Love is Kind (expanded)

About Love

Living from Your Heart

Renewing Love

The Prayer of St. Francis of Assisi

Intentional Living

Doing God's Work

Unconditional Love

Running in Circles

Smell the smells, feel the fear,
and smile at the incoherent way
life runs us in circles
while inscribing the real lessons
in a corner of the margin.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Real obstacles don't take you in circles.
They can be overcome.
Invented ones are like a maze.
- Barbara Sher

The only limits in our life are those we impose on ourselves.
- Bob Proctor

The most dangerous phrase in the language is,
"We've always done it this way."
- Grace Hopper

The only roadblock to success is limited thinking.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Eight Rules for Living Your Greatest Life

Three Rules of Life

Be Brave and Chase Your Dreams

Be Bold

Breakthrough

The Edge

Challenge Yourself

The Art of Listening

Wisdom is the reward you get for a lifetime of listening
when you'd have preferred to talk.
- Doug Larson

Everyone hears what you say.
Friends listen to what you say.
Best friends listen to what you don't say.
- Anonymous

Most of the successful people I've known are the ones
who do more listening than talking.
- Bernard Baruch

The most called-upon prerequisite of a friend is an accessible ear.
- Maya Angelou

Most people do not listen with the intent to understand;
they listen with the intent to reply.
- Stephen R. Covey 

Friends are those rare people who ask how we are
and then wait to hear the answer.
- Anonymous

Give whatever you are doing
and whoever you are with
the gift of your attention.
- Jim Rohn

Further reading:  Understanding Others

Restraint

Lifelong Learning

Be Aware

7 Secrets of Happy Couples

Empathy

Independence - Liberty - Freedom

We hold these truths to be self-evident:
that all men are created equal,
that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights,
among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
- Thomas Jefferson [Declaration of Independence]

Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.
- Emma Lazarus - written on the Statue of Liberty in New York harbor

They who can give up essential liberty
to obtain a little temporary safety
deserve neither liberty nor safety.
- Benjamin Franklin

Those who deny freedom to others deserve it not for themselves.
- Abraham Lincoln

The only thing necessary for evil to triumph
is for enough good men to do nothing.
- Edmund Burke

The best way to enhance freedom in other lands
is to demonstrate here that our democratic system is worthy of emulation.
- Jimmy Carter

We must become the change we wish to see in the world.
- Gandhi

Independence of nation begins with independence of self.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: The Moment of Choice

A Different Drummer

Freedom

Independence

Liberty

What We Are Made Of

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

Nothing splendid has ever been achieved except by those who dared
believe that something inside of them was superior to circumstance.
- Bruce Barton

Be more concerned with your character than your reputation.
- John Wooden

Nothing is more valuable than your self respect.
When you lose respect for yourself, you have lost everything.
Whatever it takes, and whoever you upset,
do what you know - deep inside - is the right thing.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Be Yourself

Integrity

Who You Are

Character

Conscience

Honor

How I React

Life is 10% what happens to me and 90% how I react to it.
- Charles R. Swindoll

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

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

Count your blessings - not your troubles.
- Dale Carnegie

It isn't what you have, or who you are, or where you are,
or what you are doing that makes you happy or unhappy.
It is what you think about.
- Dale Carnegie

Could we change our attitude,
we should not only see life differently,
but life itself would be different.
- Katherine Mansfield

Today's affirmation:
I choose to create joy in my life.
Whatever my external circumstances,
I choose to see all of life through joyful eyes.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Your attitude determines the quality of your life

Beyond the Cloud

You are the Window

My Response

Having a Positive Attitude

 

Wanting is Not Enough

Wanting something is not enough.
You must hunger for it.
Your motivation must be absolutely compelling in order
to overcome the obstacles that will invariably come your way.
- Les Brown

You are what you do, not what you say you'll do.
- Carl Jung

Ninety-nine percent of the failures come from people who have the habit of making excuses.
- George Washington Carver

You need to make a commitment,
and once you make it,
then life will give you some answers.
- Les Brown

The key to success, and to happiness,
is being fully engaged in life -
leading yourself with inspiration and committed action -
setting your own fine and honorable example.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Take Action Today

Committing to a Decision

How Much Do You Want It?

Don't Wait - Begin Today

Drive Change

Commitment

Motivation

Live with Passion