The Grace of God

Your worst days are never so bad
that you are beyond the reach of God's grace.
And your best days are never so good
that you are beyond the need of God's grace.
- Anonymous

Humility is the gateway into the grace and the favor of God.
- Harold Warner

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

You can have everything you ever need - just by asking.
All you ever need is to have inner peace, and
You always have access to The Peace Of God Which Passeth All Understanding.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Heaven on Earth

Life of Storms

God Grant Me The Wisdom

Inner Peace in a World at War

Release the Struggle
    

Road Map

Map out your future - but do it in pencil.
The road ahead is as long as you make it.
Make it worth the trip.
- Jon Bon Jovi

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

The reinvention of daily life means marching off the edge of our maps.
- Bob Black

Your goals are the road maps that guide you and show
you what is possible for your life.
- Les Brown

People come into your life and people leave it...
you just have to trust that life has a road mapped out for you.
- Orlando Bloom

We're all pilgrims on the same journey -
but some pilgrims have better road maps.
- Nelson DeMille

Further reading: Choosing Your Destination

A Better Plan

The Paradox of Planning
   

Seeing Beyond What You Expect to See

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

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

Prejudice is a burden that confuses the past,
threatens the future and renders the present inaccessible.
- Maya Angelou

Our opportunity is always to make the choice for Joy.
To see the world with new eyes - open eyes - loving eyes.
To choose compassion and understanding -
for ourselves, our family, our friends,
our community, for the whole world.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Open Minds

Seeing Unexpected Beauty

Observe

Insights and Illusions

Prejudice
    

It's OK Not to be Perfect

None of us is perfect - and that's OK.
Life is not about perfection - or a quest for perfection.
Life is about enjoying what we have - for as long as we have it.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

When you finally accept that it's OK not to have answers
and it's OK not to be perfect,
you realize that feeling confused
is a normal part of what it is to be a human being.
- Winona Ryder

Perfectionism is not a quest for the best.
It is a pursuit of the worst in ourselves,
the part that tells us that nothing we do will ever be good enough.
- Julia Cameron

Don't let perfectionism become an excuse for never getting started.
- Marilu Henner

Generally, your greatest service to someone in their time of trouble, sorrow, or confusion, is your comfort. Take the time to listen to their troubles and concerns with patience, kindness, and empathy, but without offering unsolicited advice or suggestions. Your kindly hand on their shoulder, supportive hug, and patient listening are often the greatest gifts you can offer.

Further reading: Progress of the Human Mind

Goodness of Humanity

Our Shared Humanity
   

Set Your Sails Well

Don't fight forces, use them.
- R. Buckminster Fuller

If you want to be happy,
put your effort into controlling the sail, not the wind.
- Anonymous

'Tis the set of the sail that decides the goal,
and not the storm of life.
- Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Greatness is not in where we stand,
but in what direction we are moving.
We must sail sometimes with the wind
and sometimes against it -
but sail we must,
and not drift, nor lie at anchor.
- Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.

Today, when the winds of adversity blow strong,
redirect their force into the
service of your highest intention.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Read more about this at Boldly Sail the Storms of Life

Further reading: Tested by Storms

Adjust Your Sails

Have a Plan
    

Scientific Thinking

Science is a way of thinking
much more than it is a body of knowledge.
- Carl Sagan

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

The scientist is motivated primarily by curiosity
and a desire for truth.
- Irving Langmuir

All truths are easy to understand
once they are discovered;
the point is to discover them.
- Galileo Galilei

What is a scientist after all?
It is a curious man looking through a keyhole,
the keyhole of nature, trying to know what's going on.
- Jacques Yves Cousteau

The saddest aspect of life right now
is that science gathers knowledge faster
than society gathers wisdom.
- Isaac Asimov

Further reading: Analysis AND Emotion

Understand More, Fear Less

Stroke of Insight - Jill Bolte Taylor

Seek the Truth
    

Appreciate Without Comparing

Riches do not exhilarate us so much with their possession
as they torment us with their loss.
- Epicurus

Comparisons are odious.
- Old English Saying
Read more about this...

Happiness in the present is only shattered by comparison with the past.
- Douglas Horton

Expectations Diminish Joy.
- Anonymous

People generally complain about only two things:
when they have less than yesterday,
and when they have less than their neighbor.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Comparison - Cause of Unhappiness

Expectations - Demands

Ego/Pride

How Much Is Enough?
    

Ethics Requires Respecting Others

The first step in the evolution of ethics
is a sense of solidarity with other human beings.
- Albert Schweitzer

Kindness is the light that dissolves
all walls between souls, families, and nations.
- Paramahansa Yogananda

Compassion is the basis of morality.
- Arthur Schopenhauer

We may have different religions, different languages, different colored skin,
but we all belong to one human race.
- Kofi Annan

Few are the giants of the soul that actually feel
that the human race is their family circle.
- Freya Stark

Never succumb to the notion that others are less important
based on their place of birth.
All of humanity are our brothers and sisters.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Keep the Golden Rule

Their Point of View

Each Other's Eyes

One Human Race
   

Don't Let Fear Halt Your Adventure

Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed
by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did do.
So throw off the bowlines.
Sail away from the safe harbor.
Catch the trade winds in your sails.
Explore. Dream. Discover.
- widely misattributed to Mark Twain

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

No pessimist ever discovered the secret of the stars,
or sailed to an uncharted land,
or opened a new doorway for the human spirit.
- Helen Keller

I have accepted fear as a part of life -
specifically the fear of change...
I have gone ahead despite the pounding
in the heart that says: turn back.
- Erica Jong

Further reading: Think Big, Act Big

Don't Wait!

Become a Seeker

My thoughts on "safety" versus living full-out
  

Right Conduct

Laws control the lesser man.
Right conduct controls the greater one.
- Mark Twain

Important principles may, and must, be inflexible.
- Abraham Lincoln

Rules are not necessarily sacred, principles are.
- Franklin D. Roosevelt

We must adjust to changing times
and still hold to unchanging principles.
- Jimmy Carter

'Tis the business of little minds to shrink,
but they whose heart is firm,
and whose conscience approves their conduct,
will pursue their principles unto death.
- Thomas Paine

Further reading: Keep the Golden Rule

The Center of Your Being

Your Choices Determine Everything

Your Most Important Values
   

Paint Life in Bold Colors

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

Whatever you can do, or dream you can, Begin it.
Boldness has genius, power and magic in it, Begin it now.
- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Stop acting as if life is a rehearsal.
Live this day as if it were your last.
The past is over and gone.
The future is not guaranteed.
- Wayne Dyer

Courage is the power to let go of the familiar.
- Raymond Lindquist

I am the poet of my mind.
I am the painter of my heart.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Big Dream - Big Adventure

The Canvas Of Life

Creating Your Masterwork

Fun and Success
   

Living an Honorable Life

This above all, to thine own self be true.
- William Shakespeare
[Be true to your own values - live an honorable life.]

Reputation is what other people know about you.
Honor is what you know about yourself.
- Lois McMaster Bujold

Perhaps the surest test of an individual's integrity
is his refusal to do or say anything that would damage his self-respect.
- Thomas S. Monson

To believe in something, and not to live it, is dishonest.
- Mohandas (Mahatma) Gandhi

Honor, Forgiveness, Gratitude, Choice,
Vision, Action, Celebration, Unity -
The Values of an Inspired Life.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: At the Center of Your Being

Either Accept It, or Change It

Earning a Good Name

Treat ALL with Goodness
    

Your Life has Just Begun

Today is the first day of the rest of your life.
- Anonymous

You're off to Great Places!
Today is your day!
Your mountain is waiting,
So... get on your way!
- Dr. Seuss

With every rising of the sun
Think of your life as just begun.
- Ella Wheeler Wilcox

From small beginnings come great things.
- Anonymous

Further reading: Celebrate Today

Live This Day to the Fullest

Being Fully Present in TODAY

Living in the Present
    

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day 2016

Martin Luther King, Jr. Day - a United States Federal Holiday - is celebrated on the third Monday of January each year. Watch a video of his famous I have a Dream speech.

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

Life's most urgent question is:
what are you doing for others?
- Martin Luther King, Jr.

Peace is not merely a distant goal that we seek,
but a means by which we arrive at that goal.
- Martin Luther King, Jr.

Darkness cannot drive out darkness;
only light can do that.
Hate cannot drive out hate;
only love can do that.
- Martin Luther King, Jr.

Never succumb to the temptation of bitterness.
- Martin Luther King, Jr.

What a cruel thing war is...
to fill our hearts with hatred instead of love for our neighbors.
- Robert E. Lee [Robert E. Lee's birthday is celebrated today in AL, AR and MS]

Further reading: Plant Trees For Your Grandchildren

How to Choose Your Life Purpose

With Love in My Heart

Honorable Paths to Noble Goals
   

Don't be Judgmental

Judge not, that you be not judged.
For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged;
and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.
- Matthew 7:1-2

If we were faultless we should not be so much annoyed
by the defects of those with whom we associate.
- Francois Fenelon

You are precisely as big as what you love and precisely
as small as what you allow to annoy you.
- Robert Anton Wilson

Today's affirmation
I Resist the Temptation to Judge Others.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Love All, Judge None

The Price of Anger

Keep the Golden Rule

The Essence of Jesus' Teaching
   

Honorable Means to Worthy Goals

The Means we use must be as pure
as the Ends we seek.
- Martin Luther King, Jr.

A good End cannot sanctify evil Means;
nor must we ever do Evil,
that Good may come of it.
- William Penn

Power is not a Means, it is an End.
One does not establish a dictatorship in order to safeguard a revolution;
one makes the revolution in order to establish the dictatorship.
- George Orwell

Wisdom denotes the pursuing of the best Ends by the best Means.
- Francis Hutcheson

Do the Means justify the Ends?
The Means happen today, and today is where all life happens.
The Ends are in the misty future, and quite ill-defined.
For me, nothing immoral is ever justified.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: The Power of Generosity

Allow Love to Conquer Hate

Keep the Golden Rule

Honorable Paths to Noble Goals
   

Sing Your Own Song

Alas for those that never sing,
But die with all their music in them!
- Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.

You can choose to follow your heart always.
- don Miguel Ruiz

Wherever you go, go with all your heart.
- Confucius

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: I Dreamed a Dream

Think Big, Act Big

Live With Enthusiasm

Choose to Follow Your Heart
   

Purpose and Direction

If a man does not know what port he is steering for,
no wind is favorable to him.
- Seneca

Efforts and courage are not enough without purpose and direction.
- John F. Kennedy

The tragedy of life doesn't lie in not reaching your goal.
The tragedy lies in having no goal to reach.
- Benjamin Mays

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

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I ...
I took the one less traveled by,
and that has made all the difference.
- Robert Frost

Further reading: Reaching for Your Goals

Choosing Your Destination

How to Choose Your Life Purpose

Where does your path lead?
    

Building Strength to Help Others

Self-care is critical to having a strong inner foundation.
Taking good care of YOU means the people in your life
will receive the best of you rather than what is left of you.
- Lorraine Cohen

As we cultivate peace and happiness in ourselves,
we also nourish peace and happiness in those we love.
- Thich Nhat Hanh

Self-respect is often mistaken for arrogance
when in reality it is the opposite.
When we can recognize all our good qualities
as well as or faults with neutrality,
we can start to appreciate ourselves
as we would a dear friend
and experience the comfortable inner glow of respect.
- Osho

In my own deepening understanding of myself
I find my capacity to serve others is deepened as well.
The better I am at self-care
the more genuinely nurturing of others I am able to be.
- Mary Anne Radmacher

If you doubt the virtue in self-honor,
remember what the flight attendant says,
"Put your own oxygen mask on first."
You are of no use to anyone else
if you have not taken care of your own needs first -
this includes your own emotional,
as well as physical, well-being.
In addition, your greatest value to your children,
your family, your friends, and your community
is the example you set, leading a great life that inspires
those around you to emulate your being.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Be Gentle with Yourself

Our Light that Frightens Us

Respect Yourself

Self-Respect, Not Ego
    

Beginning Today

Insanity is doing the same thing, over and over again,
but expecting different results.
- Rita Mae Brown (also attributed to Einstein)

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

Have your new year's resolutions been a new beginning for you
or have they just been different words on the same old beginning?
Maybe now's the time to establish
a new pattern of viewing your life fresh.
- Mary Anne Radmacher

Whatever you want in life, start today. Not tomorrow - today.
Let it be a small beginning - a tiny beginning.
Your happiness depends on starting today - every day.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: How to Keep Your New Years Resolutions

It's Never Too Late

A Better Plan
     

Passion and Enthusiasm

Don't die with your music still inside you.
Listen to your intuitive inner voice
and find what passion stirs your soul.
- Wayne Dyer

Enthusiasm is the mother of effort,
and without it nothing great was ever achieved.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

Apathy can be overcome by enthusiasm.
- Arnold J. Toynbee

Years wrinkle the skin, but to give up enthusiasm wrinkles the soul.
- Douglas MacArthur

None are so old as those who have outlived enthusiasm.
- Henry David Thoreau

The success of a project is best predicted
by the enthusiasm of its participants.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Take Charge of Your Life

Your Intuition is Your Guide

Think Big, Act Big

Live Your Greatest Life
   

Rich Only Through What We Give

Jesus said, "Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor,
and you will have treasure in heaven."
- Mark 10:21

We are rich only through what we give,
and poor only through what we refuse.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

The love of money is the root of all evil:
which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith,
and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.
But thou, O man of God, flee these things;
and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness.
- Timothy 6:10-11

Jesus said, "Whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant."
- Mark 10:43

Go to the people.
Live among them.
Learn from them.
Love them.
Serve them.
- Jimmy Yen (Y. C. James Yen)

Further reading: Helping Others

 What if Money Was No Object?  (video)

What is Your Religion?

This God Called Money

More Than Money
   

We Must Sail, Not Drift

We cannot direct the wind, but we can adjust the sails.
- Bertha Calloway (attributed)

We must free ourselves of the hope
that the sea will ever rest.
We must learn to sail in high winds.
- Aristotle Onassis

I am the captain of my soul.
- William Ernest Henley

When it is obvious that the goals cannot be reached,
don't adjust the goals, adjust the action steps.
- Confucius

To reach a port, we must sail -
sail, not tie at anchor - sail, not drift.
- Franklin D. Roosevelt paraphrasing Oliver Wendell Holmes

Further reading: Boldly Sail the Storms of Life

Tested by Storms

What Can Christopher Columbus Teach Us Today?

An Anchor And A Sail
    

You are Known by Your Actions

Every decision you make - every decision - is not a decision about what to do.
It’s a decision about Who You Are.
When you see this, when you understand it, everything changes.
You begin to see life in a new way.
All events, occurrences, and situations turn into opportunities
to do what you came here to do.
- Neale Donald Walsch

Tell me who admires and loves you, and I will tell you who you are.
- Antoine de Saint-Exupery

The privilege of a lifetime is being who you are.
- Joseph Campbell

Instead of worrying about what people say of you,
why not spend time trying to accomplish
something they will admire.
- Dale Carnegie

To be a person of true greatness...
Live with honor.
Respect yourself.
Respect others.
Act honorably.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: How to Make Decisions You Won't Regret

Take Charge of Your Life

At the Center of Your Being

Integrity
    

Your Life is NOW

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

In the end, it's not the years in your life that count.
It's the life in your years.
- Abraham Lincoln

Forget regret, or life is yours to miss.
- Jonathan Larson

Life is now.
There was never a time when your life was not now,
nor will there ever be.
- Eckhart Tolle

What is age but a number.
What you can dream, you can become, at any age.
Live your best life, not your age.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Live Every Moment, Joyfully

It's Never Too Late

A Life Without Fear

Live Your Life Fully
   

Beyond Ourselves

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

One of the secrets of life is that
all that is really worth the doing
is what we do for others.
- Lewis Carroll

The way you get meaning into your life
is to devote yourself to loving others,
devote yourself to your community around you,
and devote yourself to creating something
that gives you purpose and meaning.
- Mitch Albom

The best cure for our own self-inflicted suffering
is often service to others.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Create Light for Others

Eight Rules for Living Your Greatest Life

How to Choose Your Life Purpose

Live With Passion
    

Your Own Inner Voice

I am the master of my fate; I am the captain of my soul.
- William Ernest Henley

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

Steve Jobs' Three Rules of Life ...

1. Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life.

2. Don't be trapped by dogma -
which is living with the results of other people's thinking.
Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice.

3. Have the courage to follow your heart and intuition -
they somehow already know what you truly want to become.
- Steve Jobs

Today's affirmation:
I set my own course through the ocean of life.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Life and Death: Steve Jobs Stanford Commencement Speech 2005 (video)

Creating Your Masterwork

Fun and Success

Big Dream - Big Adventure
   

Loved and Beautiful

To the people who love you, you are beautiful already.
This is not because they’re blind to your shortcomings
but because they so clearly see your soul.
- Victoria Moran

Real love is accepting other people the way they are
without trying to change them.
- don Miguel Ruiz

In true friendship, one can express
anything and everything without feeling ashamed
or afraid of being rejected.
- Aparna Chatterjee

Families are like fudge... mostly sweet with a few nuts.
- Anonymous

Appreciate your friends.
Grant them the freedom to be lovable, but fully imperfect.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Like Angels

Accepting Our Friends' Uniqueness

Encourage Me

Appreciating Friends
   

Foundation of All Ethics

Universal compassion is the only guarantee of morality.
- Arthur Schopenhauer

I can do no other than be reverent
before everything that is called life.
I can do no other than to have compassion
for all that is called life.
That is the beginning and the foundation of all ethics.
- Albert Schweitzer

Love is the foundation from which your decisions about
your life should be made.
- Darren L. Johnson

Compassion is the ultimate value in life.
Service is the ultimate action.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: To Keep the Golden Rule

The Universal Sacrament of Compassion

Feed the Hungry

True Measure of a Successful Life
   

Choosing Your Purpose

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

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

How different our lives are when we
really know what is deeply important to us,
and keeping that picture in mind,
we manage ourselves each day
to be and to do what really matters most.
- Stephen Covey

Do you have a plan for your life? If not, allocate some time today to sit quietly with pen and paper to begin writing your life plan - what you want to accomplish with your life, and what projects will support your goals.

Further reading: How to Choose Your Life Purpose

 This Is Your Life

The Melody Within Your Soul
   

Happy New Year 2016

This bright new year is given me
To live each day with zest
To daily grow and try to be
My highest and my best.
- William Arthur Ward

Don't Wait!
Start on your dreams, your impulses,
your longings, your special occasions today.
Because this is your moment.
- Mary Anne Radmacher

Cheers to a new year and another chance for us to get it right.
- Oprah Winfrey

Another Sunrise, Another New Beginning.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: The First Day

Committed yet Flexible

New Years Resolutions

Renewal and Rebirth - The Great Cycle