The Right to be Different

To be one, to be united is a great thing.
But to respect the right to be different is maybe even greater.
- Bono

Tolerance is the first principle of community;
it is the spirit which conserves
the best that all men think.
- Helen Keller

In the practice of tolerance,
one's enemy is the best teacher.
- Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama

The highest result of education is tolerance.
Long ago men fought and died for their faith;
but it took ages to teach them the other kind of courage, -
the courage to recognize the faiths of their brethren
and their rights of conscience.
- Helen Keller

Further reading: Through the Eyes of Another

Open Minds

Each To Their Own

All Brothers and Sisters
   

Above the Madness

May your life always be Counterpoint to the Clamor of the World.
May you delight in Dancing Lightly With Life.
May you soar on eagle wings, high above the madness of the world.
May you always sing Melody in the Symphony of Your Life.
May you taste, smell, and touch your dreams of a beautiful tomorrow.
May your sun always shine, and your sky be forever blue.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

In all ranks of life the human heart yearns for the beautiful;
and the beautiful things that God makes are his gift to all alike.
- Harriet Beecher Stowe

Life has loveliness to sell,
all beautiful and splendid things,
blue waves whitened on a cliff,
soaring fire that sways and sings,
and children's faces looking up,
holding wonder like a cup.
- Sara Teasdale

If you see a whole thing - it seems that it's always beautiful.
Planets, lives...
But up close a world's all dirt and rocks.
And day to day, life's a hard job, you get tired,
you lose the pattern.
- Ursula K. Le Guin

Further reading: 12 Life Lessons I Learned From My Cat

Ten Little Tips to Feel Happier Right Now

Three Rules of Life

Gratitude Each Day

Gratitude bestows reverence,
allowing us to encounter everyday epiphanies,
those transcendent moments of awe that change forever
how we experience life and the world.
- John Milton

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

With gratitude, all life appears as a blessing -
without gratitude, all of life is perceived as a burden.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: The Miracle of Gratitude

Release the Struggle

Zero-Based Gratitude

Thank You Prayer
     

Seeing Light and Joy in Everything

Our opportunity is to Soar our Spirit.
To see Light and Joy in everything.
To spread our wings and fly boldly.
To give thanks for rainbows and butterflies -
our symbols of renewal and rebirth.
To offer daily Thanksgiving - for ourselves, our family,
our friends, our community, for the whole world.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

None is more impoverished than the one who has no gratitude.
Gratitude is a currency that we can mint for ourselves,
and spend without fear of bankruptcy.
- Fred De Witt Van Amburgh

The miracle of gratitude is that it shifts your perception
to such an extent that it changes the world you see.
- Robert Holden

Gratitude is the inward feeling of kindness received.
Thankfulness is the natural impulse to express that feeling.
Thanksgiving is the following of that impulse.
- Henry Van Dyke

Further reading: The Miracle of Gratitude

Appreciate Today

Give Thanks for the Commonplace

Gratitude for THIS Moment
   

Don't Make Every Problem a War

Don't stop and throw stones
at every dog that barks at you.
Be selective in your battles;
don't make every problem a war.
- Winston Churchill first sentence
with anonymous second sentence

It is the mark of great people to treat trifles as trifles
and important matters as important.
- Doris Lessing

Through violence, you may 'solve' one problem,
but you sow the seeds for another.
- Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama

Your life is not a problem to be solved, but a gift to be opened.
- Wayne Muller

Further reading: Creating a Great Future

John F. Kennedy quotes

Stay Alert for Opportunities

Violence
     

God's Grace is With You

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

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

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

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: Life of Storms

Heaven on Earth

God Grant Me The Wisdom

Release the Struggle

Inner Peace in a World at War
    

Take Time for Renewal

Take time to sharpen the saw.
- Steven Covey

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

Take a course in good water and air;
and in the eternal youth of Nature you may renew your own.
Go quietly, alone; no harm will befall you.
- John Muir

It is important from time to time to slow down,
to go away by yourself, and simply be.
- Eileen Caddy

We need quiet time to examine our lives openly and honestly -
spending quiet time alone gives your mind an opportunity
to renew itself and create order.
- Susan Taylor

Let today be a day to renew your health, your energy, and your spirit.

Further reading: Don't Struggle

Self-Care

Health

Having a Plan

A Balanced Life
     

Call None "Enemy"

Man's enemies are not demons, but human beings like himself.
- Lao Tzu

You have heard that it was said,
"Love your neighbor and hate your enemy."
But I tell you: Love your enemies
and pray for those who persecute you.
- Jesus (Matthew 5:43-44)

If you want to make peace with your enemy,
you have to work with your enemy.
Then he becomes your partner.
- Nelson Mandela

Hate is like fire; it burns those who hold it.
- Alden Loveshade

When you pray for anyone, you tend to
modify your personal attitude toward them.
- Norman Vincent Peale

Further reading: Good Samaritan

Abraham Lincoln: Making Friends of Enemies

The World is My Family

Categorizing People
     

Finding Joy in Small Pleasures

Life is made up of small pleasures.
Happiness is made up of those tiny successes.
The big ones come too infrequently.
And if you don't collect all these tiny successes,
the big ones don't really mean anything.
- Norman Lear

As you simplify your life,
the laws of the universe will be simpler;
solitude will not be solitude,
poverty will not be poverty,
nor weakness weakness.
- Henry David Thoreau

It is neither wealth nor splendor;
but tranquility and occupation which give you happiness.
- Thomas Jefferson

The simplification of life is one of the steps to inner peace.
A persistent simplification will create an inner and outer well-being
that places harmony in one's life.
- Peace Pilgrim

Think big thoughts but relish small pleasures.
- H. Jackson Brown, Jr.

The secret to a joyful life is Simplicity -
saying NO to the latest this and the most glamorous that -
saying NO to chasing an overly-demanding career -
saying NO to the stressful demands upon your time and energy.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: The Things Divine

Ten Little Tips to Feel Happier Right Now

Don't Sweat The Small Stuff

The Essence of Life
     
Save

Overcoming Anxiety

Every tomorrow has two handles.
We can take hold of it with the handle of anxiety
or the handle of faith.
- Henry Ward Beecher

Anxiety does not empty tomorrow of its sorrow...
but only empties today of its strength.
- C. H. Spurgeon

If I were to say, "God, why me?" about the bad things,
then I should have said, "God, why me?"
about the good things that happened in my life.
- Arthur Ashe

All times are times of crisis. Wars, earthquakes, diseases, floods and murders have been constant companions of humankind from the beginning. 300,000 people die each and every single day. Yet against this backdrop, the magnificence of human accomplishment, human love and compassion, and great human happiness plays out each day. Let us marvel, and have infinite gratitude for, the human spirit that towers above the circumstances in which we find ourselves.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: The Serenity Prayer

The Myth of Security

The Eye-of-the-Storm

Grace and Gratitude

Life only appears to be rushing toward us

Goodness of Life
     

Doing The Right Thing, Even When It's Hard

The truth of the matter is that
you always know the right thing to do.
The hard part is doing it.
- Norman Schwarzkoff

When the rights of any group, no matter how small, no matter how marginal,
are violated, your liberty, your freedom is put at risk.
Let there never be a day when we cast about in horror
and have to ask the question, "How did it ever come to this?"
- Thomas Childers

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

Safeguarding the rights of others is the most noble
and beautiful end of a human being.
- Khalil Gibran

To be free is not merely to cast off one's chains,
but to live in a way that respects
and enhances the freedom of others.
- Nelson Mandela

If you are neutral in situations of injustice,
you have chosen the side of the oppressor.
If an elephant has its foot on the tail of a mouse
and you say that you are neutral,
the mouse will not appreciate your neutrality.
- Desmond Tutu

Do your little bit of good where you are;
its those little bits of good put together that overwhelm the world.
- Desmond Tutu

Further reading: We are free only if we do the work of freedom

Majority Rule vs. Individual Rights

What Really Matters

Injustice
     

Don't Worry; Smell the Flowers

You're only here for a short visit.
Don't hurry. Don't worry.
And be sure to smell the flowers along the way.
- Walter Hagen

Worry never robs tomorrow of its sorrow,
it only saps today of its joy.
- Leo Buscaglia

Worrying is like a rocking chair,
it gives you something to do, but it gets you nowhere.
- Glenn Turner

Life only appears complicated when one is worrying.
Relax, and life becomes simple again.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Yes, YOU Can Be Happy

Small Pleasures

Say NO to Stress: 8 Easy and Powerful Ways
     

Your Measure of Kindness

Wherever there is a human being,
there is an opportunity for a kindness.
- Seneca

You cannot do a kindness too soon,
for you never know how soon it will be too late.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

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

People will forget what you said,
people will forget what you did,
but people will never forget
how you made them feel.
- Maya Angelou

Kindness is better than piety.
- Yiddish Proverb

Be kind whenever possible; and it is always possible.
- Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama

Your measure that matters is your measure of kindness,
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Let Us Be Kind

Plant Trees For Your Grandchildren

Brotherly Love

Pay It Forward - as an Expression of Universal Gratitude

The Parable of the Good Samaritan
     

Blazing You Own Trail

Do not follow where the path may lead.
Go, instead, where there is no path and leave a trail.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

For those men who, sooner or later,
are lucky enough to break away from the pack,
the most intoxicating moment comes
when they cease being bodies in other men's command
and find that they control their own time,
when they learn their own voice and authority.
- 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

Many people allow their need for other people's approval to control their lives.
They spend their lives worrying about what others think of them.
- Rick Warren

To avoid criticism, do nothing, say nothing, and be nothing.
- Elbert Hubbard

Further reading: Have Confidence in Yourself

Only Your Own Approval

Independence - Liberty - Freedom

Be Yourself
     

St. Patrick's Day 2017

May love and laughter light your days, and warm your heart and home.
May good and faithful friends be yours, wherever you may roam.
May peace and plenty bless your world with joy that long endures.
May all life's passing seasons bring the best to you and yours.
- Irish Blessing

May flowers always line your path and sunshine light your day.
May songbirds serenade you every step along the way.
May a rainbow run beside you in a sky that's always blue.
And may happiness fill your heart each day your whole life through.
- Traditional Irish Blessing

May the road rise up to meet you, may the wind be ever at your back.
May the sun shine warm upon your face and the rain fall softly on your fields.
And until we meet again, May God hold you in the hollow of his hand.
- Irish Blessing

May God grant you always...
A sunbeam to warm you,
a moonbeam to charm you,
a sheltering Angel so nothing can harm you.
Laughter to you.
Faithful friends near you.
And whenever you pray,
Heaven to hear you.
- Irish Blessing

Further reading: Celebrating the Small Miracles of Our Life

How to be Happier in Life

Words of Comfort on the Death of a Loved One
   

Love Others, Don't Judge Them

Love your neighbor as yourself.
- Leviticus 19:18

If you judge people, you have no time to love them.
- Mother Teresa

The only way you can serve God is by serving other people.
- Rick Warren

I can only have peace of mind when I forgive rather than judge.
- Gerald Jampolsky

Do to others as you would have them do to you.
- Luke 6:31 (the "Golden Rule")

For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink:
I was a stranger, and ye took me in: Naked, and ye clothed me:
I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me.
...
Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these
my brethren, ye have done it unto me.
Matthew 25:35-40

Further reading: Keep the Golden Rule

To Be a Faithful Follower of Jesus

Tolerance, Not Judgement

Seek To Love

We Belong to Each Other
   

Oneness is the Secret of Everything

All differences in this world are of degree, and not of kind,
because oneness is the secret of everything.
- Swami Vivekananda

This is the way of peace: Overcome evil with good,
falsehood with truth, and hatred with love.
- Peace Pilgrim

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

Drop the sword - for there is but one flesh to wound,
and it is the one flesh of all humankind.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

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: One Great Dewdrop

Unity with Spirit and All Creation

The Beat of the Universe

Feel Your Connection With the Infinite - a Meditation
      

Together, a Force to be Reckoned With

Individually, we are one drop.
Together, we are an ocean.
- Ryunosuke Satoro

Alone we can do so little;
together we can do so much.
- Helen Keller

We must all hang together,
or assuredly we shall all hang separately.
- Benjamin Franklin

Coming together is a beginning;
keeping together is progress;
working together is success.
- Henry Ford

We must learn to live together as brothers
or perish together as fools.
- Martin Luther King, Jr.

The choice is to work alone to be a little
more successful than the next person,
or to work together for the great betterment of humanity.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Doing Right - Together

Mutually Beneficial

Learning To Live Together

Win-Win vs. Compromise

Love Your Neighbor

A Shared Dream

One World

Allowing Those We Love to be Imperfect

Love is sometimes shown
in the things you don't say,
don't keep track of, and don't notice.
 ...
The greatest kindness is often shown
in letting things go.
None of us is perfect,
but we can all be perfect friends
and perfect partners by allowing
those that we love to be imperfect.
- Neale Donald Walsch

We come to love not by finding the perfect person,
but by learning to see an imperfect person perfectly.
- Angelina Jolie

Being human, we are imperfect. That's why we need each other.
To catch each other when we falter.
To encourage each other when we lose heart.
Some may lead; others may follow; but none of us can go it alone.
- Hilary Clinton

Happiness lies in accepting everyone
in our lives EXACTLY as they are.
We cause ourselves untold misery whenever
we believe others to be imperfect and try to change them.
This is the number one rule for a happy relationship.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Accepting Our Friends' Uniqueness

Greatest Mistake

Encourage Your Friends

Loved and Beautiful
      

Your Legacy to Future Generations

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

You give but little when you give of your possessions.
It is when you give of yourself that you truly give.
- Khalil Gibran

While it is well enough to leave footprints on the sands of time,
it is even more important to make sure they point in a commendable direction.
- James Branch Cabell

Everything you do, and everything you do not do, is your legacy to future generations.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading:Love Your Neighbor

Working Toward a Better World

Your Legacy - Making a Difference

Our Grandchildren
     

Habits Begin As Choices

Your life is the sum result of all the choices you make,
both consciously and unconsciously.
If you can control the process of choosing,
you can take control of all aspects of your life.
You can find the freedom that comes from being in charge of yourself.
- Robert Foster Bennett

Bad habits are like a comfortable bed,
easy to get into, but hard to get out of.
- Anonymous

The freedom we are looking for is the freedom to be ourselves,
to express ourselves. But if we look at our lives we will see that
most of the time we do things just to please others ...
The worst part is that most of us are not even aware that we are not free.
-Don Miguel Ruiz

Correcting bad habits cannot be done by forbidding or punishment.
- Robert Baden-Powell (the founder of scouting)

Are your habits moving you toward your life goals?
Or are they keeping you stuck in place?
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Is today the day to stop doing what doesn't inspire you, but has become a habit?

Is today the day to begin new projects and a new way of life that truly inspires you?

Further reading: Are You a Prisoner?

5 Secrets For Breaking Your Bad Habits

Our Habits

Running in Circles

Self Discipline

Habits - Like Water to a Fish
     

Forgive Others to Gain Your Own Peace

Forgive others,
not because they deserve forgiveness,
but because you deserve peace.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Without forgiveness, we remain tethered to the person who harmed us.
We are bound with chains of bitterness, tied together, trapped.
Until we can forgive the person who harmed us,
that person will hold the keys to our happiness; that person will be our jailer.
When we forgive, we take back control of our own fate and our feelings.
We become our own liberators.
Forgiveness, in other words, is the best form of self-interest.
This is true both spiritually and scientifically.
We don’t forgive to help the other person.
We don’t forgive for others.
We forgive for ourselves.
- Desmond Tutu (Archbishop Emeritus and recipient of Nobel Peace Prize)

The key to forgiveness is to forgive from the heart -
not from the mind.
- Sheri Rosenthal

Further reading: Forgiveness: Path to Inner Peace

Judging Others

Ending Hatred

Treat ALL with Goodness
    

The Eyes Choose

We don't see things as they are,
we see things as we are.
- Anaïs Nin

If you paint in your mind a picture of
bright and happy expectations,
you put yourself into a condition conducive to your goal.
- Norman Vincent Peale

The world will persist in exhibiting before you
what you persist in affirming the world is.
- Emma Curtis Hopkins

We see what we expect to see.
If we believe the world to be violent and ugly,
we see violence and ugliness.
If we believe the world to be a gift,
we see rainbows, and butterflies, and smiles,
and hear babies cooing, and roosters greeting the dawn.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: What You See

Your Choices Determine Everything

Choosing to Love Life
    

True Destination

One's destination is never a place but rather a new
way of looking at things.
- Henry Miller

Remember, no matter where you go, there you are.
- Confucius

Look at everything as though you were seeing it
either for the first or last time.
Then your time on earth will be filled with glory.
- Betty Smith

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

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

Further reading: Purpose and Direction

Through the Eyes of Another

Where You're Going
    

At Peace With Myself

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

Never believe that a few caring people can't change the world.
For, indeed, that's all who ever have.
- Margaret Mead

I am not only a pacifist but a militant pacifist.
I am willing to fight for peace.
Nothing will end war unless the people themselves refuse to go to war.
- Albert Einstein

Today's affirmation:
I am at Peace with myself,
my family, my community, and the world.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: World Peace

Choosing Peace

Thoughts of Peace

Doing God's Work

The Prayer of St. Francis of Assisi
     

No Time to Keep Silent

Rights are won only by those who make their voices heard.
- Harvey Milk

Lend your voices only to sounds of freedom,
no longer lend your strength to that
which you wish to be free from.
Fill your life with love and bravery,
and you shall live a life uncommon.
- Jewel

Never be bullied into silence.
Never allow yourself to be made a victim.
Accept no one's definition of your life;
define yourself.
- Harvey Fierstein

Stand before the people you fear and speak your mind -
even if your voice shakes.
- Maggie Kuhn

We will not walk in fear, one of another.
We are not descended from fearful men,
Not from men who feared to write, to speak,
To associate and to defend causes
which were for the moment unpopular.
This is no time... to keep silent.
- Edward R. Murrow

Further reading: Take Action - Now

Speaking while Angry

Have Confidence in Yourself
      

Service - It's What We Live For

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

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

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

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

Further reading: How to Choose Your Life Purpose

Know The Difference

What Really Matters?
  

Live Life Gently

Life is too important to be taken seriously.
- Oscar Wilde

Seriousness is a sickness; your sense of humor
makes you more human, more humble.
The sense of humor - according to me -
is one of the most essential parts of religiousness.
- Osho

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

Smile.
Today would be a wonderful day
not to take life so seriously.
Today may end up the way you prefer -
and it may not.
Happiness is not about being a winner -
it's about being gentle with life -
being gentle with yourself.
Let life be a dance,
and choose the kind of
dance you want for today -
perhaps a gentle loving dance.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Humor in the Face of Adversity

Time to Smell the Flowers

Tread Lightly

Be Gentle with Yourself

As a Child Again
   

Celebrate Those Who Are Unlike Us

Gentleness, self-sacrifice and generosity
are the exclusive possession of no one race or religion.
- Mohandas (Mahatma) Gandhi

Try a new perspective on diversity.
Across the country and around the world,
we are all one.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

In Republics, the great danger is, that the majority
may not sufficiently respect the rights of the minority.
- James Madison

It is not our differences that divide us.
It is our inability to recognize, accept,
and celebrate those differences.
- Audre Lorde

Further reading: Empathy

Oneness

Categorizing People

Apples and Oranges
     

The One Spirit

The highest proof of the Spirit is love.
Love is the eternal thing which men can already
on earth possess as it really is.
- Albert Schweitzer

The manifest universe is the body of God ...
all people are incarnations of the One Spirit.
- Ernest Holmes

The cleansing fire of Spirit
consumes the troubles of this world.
Feed your concerns to the fire.
Breathe deeply and rejoice.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: The Universal Sacrament of Compassion

Unity with Spirit and All Creation

Conscious Breathing to Relieve Stress

Ritual and Celebration

How To Stop Worrying By Using the Qigong Release Exercise

Peace Doesn't Just Happen; Peace Must Be "Made"

Peace is not an absence of war,
it is a virtue, a state of mind,
a disposition for benevolence, confidence, justice.
- Baruch Spinoza

We can never obtain peace in the outer world
until we make peace with ourselves.
- Dalai Lama

It is not enough to say we must not wage war.
It is necessary to love peace and sacrifice for it.
- Martin Luther King, Jr.

The world has always been in an uproar, and it always will be.
Choose Peace. Choose to live with Peace.
Choose to interact peacefully with everyone -
especially those whose instinct is not to be peaceful.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Peace doesn't just happen.
Peace must be "made,"
and it's hard work to make Peace.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Love All, Judge None

Peacemakers

Hatred vs. Love