Frustration and Resentment

Our fatigue is often caused not by work,
but by worry, frustration and resentment.
- Dale Carnegie

All that is necessary to break the spell
of inertia and frustration is this:
Act as if it were impossible to fail.
- Dorthea Brande

It is hardly possible to build anything,
if frustration, bitterness and a mood of helplessness prevail.
- Lech Walesa

3 Rs that Plague Humanity - Regret, Resentment, and Revenge.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Fatigue makes cowards of us all.
- Vince Lombardi

Whether we allow external events to shape our lives
at a core level is very much within our own control.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: How to Think Positive

Renew Yourself

Feeling Stuck?

How to Live a Stress-Free Life

Finding Peace in Forgiveness
      

Take Charge of Your Own Life

It is not because life is difficult
that we do not dare.
Life is difficult
because we do not dare.
- Seneca

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

We have a choice of how we view
the obstacles on our life path.
One choice makes us slaves to circumstance,
while the other empowers us, and motivates us
to follow our dreams - and our happiness.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

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

Photo is of the Berlin Wall in the 1960s.

Further reading: Draw from Suffering

You Need Courage

Why is This Happening?
      

Have Empathy, Don't Judge Differences

Do not judge another person
until you have walked a mile
in their moccasins.
- Native American (various wordings)

There is no neutrality.
There is only greater or lesser
awareness of one's bias.
- Phyllis Rose

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

Most everything in life
is about our point-of-view,
rather than any absolute.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Your Point of View

Through the Eyes of Another

Byron Katie - The Work - No one can give you freedom but you

Why I Choose to Believe that Others are Never the Cause of My Unhappiness
       

The Function of Prayer

The function of prayer is not to influence God,
but rather to change the nature of the one who prays.
- Soren Kierkegaard

I offer my body, my mind
and any ability that I posses,
to be used by Thee, O Infinite Creator,
in whatever way Thou dost choose
to express Thyself through me.
I know that all work is Thy work,
and that no task is too difficult
or too menial when offered
to Thee in loving service.
- Paramahansa Yogananda

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

Today I offer a prayer of forgiveness:
forgive the pettiness of my ingratitude...
the absence of profound thankfulness.
- Mary Anne Radmacher

Lord, grant comfort, joy and health
to those I call friend,
to those I call enemy,
and to those I have cursed by my indifference.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Unanswered Prayers

Have a Conversation with God, Today

Celebrating Rainbows and Butterflies - the Small Miracles of Our Life

You have not been abandoned
      

Your Perception of Reality

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

We see life through the fun-house mirrors of our own point-of-view.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

The dream you are living is your creation.
It is your perception of reality that you can change at any time.
- don Miguel Ruiz

Get the facts first.
You can distort them later.
- Mark Twain

Everyone believes that their beliefs are the right ones -
that is why they are called beliefs.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Seek the Truth

Your Attitude is Your Window

Your world IS as you believe it is

Don't Be Too Sure
    

Hold On... Joyfully

Today I choose life.
Every morning when I wake up I can choose joy,
happiness, negativity, pain...
To feel the freedom that comes from being able to continue
to make mistakes and choices -
today I choose to feel life,
not to deny my humanity but embrace it.
- Kevyn Aucoin

You must understand the whole of life,
not just one little part of it.
That is why you must read,
that is why you must look at the skies,
that is why you must sing and dance,
and write poems
and suffer and understand,
for all that is life.
- Jiddu Krishnamurti

Count your blessings - not your troubles.
- Dale Carnegie

Hold on... Joyfully.
Holding-on does not have to be
a desperate teeth-gritting kind of holding-on.
Holding-on can be a joyful
"this is just the nature of Life,
so I may as well enjoy it"
kind of holding-on.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Times of Trial and Suffering

Why Me?

Unbending

Fear of Suffering
      

Anger Returns Upon Itself

Holding on to anger is like grasping a hot coal
with the intent of throwing it at someone else;
you are the one who gets burned.
- The Buddha

He who angers you conquers you.
- Elizabeth Kenny

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

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

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

Being angry harms your physical, emotional, and spiritual well-being.
You create stress in your life by getting angry,
and you can instantly remove
that stress by granting forgiveness.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Never Speak while Angry

Allow Love to Conquer Hate

Stop Anger Before it Stops You

Anger is Its Own Punishment

A Reflection

Revenge, the Deadliest Sin?
     

Joy in Simplicity

Simple living is the way to happy living.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Most men pursue pleasure with such breathless haste
that they hurry past it.
- Soren Kierkegaard

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

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

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 Serenity of Simple Pleasures

Let It Go

Living in Harmony
     

Who You Really Are

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

We all go through life bristling
at our external limitations,
but the most difficult chains
to break are inside us.
- Bradley Whitford

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

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: Conscience

Integrity

Character
    

Your Inner Eye

The best and most beautiful things in the world
cannot be seen or even touched.
They must be felt with the heart.
- Helen Keller
 
Though we travel the world over to find the beautiful,
we must carry it with us or we find it not.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

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

The sculptor produces the beautiful statue
by chipping away such parts of the marble block as are not needed -
it is a process of elimination.
- Elbert Hubbard

The beauty does not live out there; the beauty's in my eyes.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Perspective. Point-of-view. Is something ugly, or beautiful?
Noble or insensitive? There are six billion ways of seeing life.
Trust your own inner eye for  beauty.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: How to Build Self Esteem

How to Feel Good About Yourself

How to Love Yourself
      

Put Your Trust in the Light

Trust in the Light.
Darkness is not a force -
it is merely the absence of light.
Observe that when a light is brought to a dark place,
the darkness disappears.
Sadness is similar -
when joy is brought to suffering, the sadness disappears.
Open yourself to the Light!
Hold back nothing, Trust in the Light.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

All the darkness of the world cannot
extinguish the light of a single candle,
yet one candle can illuminate all the darkness.
- Jewish Hanukah Prayer

I will gather myself around my faith,
for light does the darkness most fear.
- Jewel

Exercise: Write your most worrisome trouble on a piece of paper and feed it to the fire. Send your troubles up in smoke. Breathe deeply and rejoice.

Further reading: Feel Your Connection With the Infinite - a Meditation

Radiate Light and Love

Have a Conversation With God, Today

A Light from Within
      
   

Unique, Yet Connected

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

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

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

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

Today's affirmation:
I celebrate both my uniqueness
and my connection with all that is.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Accept Others

Avoid Labeling Yourself

Recognize, Accept, and Celebrate Differences
      

More Than My Thoughts or Emotions

I am not a slave to my thoughts or emotions.
- Richard Carlson

Every day in every way I am getting better and better.
- Anonymous

Positive thinking will let you do everything
better than negative thinking will.
- Zig Ziglar

Today's affirmation:
I am one with the power and wisdom of the Universe.
I have all that I need.
- Louise L. Hay

There is great power in daily positive affirmations.
Consider beginning the practice of adopting an affirmation each day.
Use some of my positive affirmations (you can also get them daily by email)
or let them inspire you to create your own.

Further reading: How to Think Positive

Are your affirmations about your life positive or negative?

Think Positive, Act Positive, Believe Positive

Attitude is Everything
      

Compassion and Our Shared Humanity

Compassion is not a relationship between the healer and the wounded.
It's a relationship between equals.
Only when we know our own darkness well
can we be present with the darkness of others.
Compassion becomes real when we recognize our shared humanity.
- Pema Chodron

Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.
- Jesus (Matthew 25:40)

For me, an area of moral clarity is:
you're in front of someone who's suffering
and you have the tools at your disposal
to alleviate that suffering or even eradicate it,
and you act.
- Paul Farmer

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

Our opportunity is to visualize a kinder world.
To sing glad songs of tomorrow -
imagining a world of love -
of the whole world filled with love.
To offer our hand... often.
To breathe deeply and honor ourselves.
To pause and contemplate... just because.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Compassion, Kindness, Humility

Comfort, Rainbows, and Laughter

Feed the Hungry

Accept Others
      

Science: Curiosity and a Search for Truth

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

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

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

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

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

Further reading: Seek the Truth

Understand More, Fear Less

Analysis AND Emotion

Stroke of Insight - Jill Bolte Taylor
    

Free of the Past

March on. Do not tarry.
To go forward is to move toward perfection.
March on, and fear not the thorns,
or the sharp stones on life's path.
- Khalil Gibran

My Mama always said you've got to put the past behind you
before you can move on.
- the movie Forrest Gump

An ant on the move does more than a dozing ox.
- Lao Tzu

Whatever happened, forgive others, forgive yourself,
move forward, live for today and tomorrow.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: New Ideas

Cheer Progress

Forward Together
      

Martin Luther King Jr. Day 2018

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.

We must develop and maintain the capacity to forgive.
He who is devoid of the power to forgive
is devoid of the power to love.
There is some good in the worst of us
and some evil in the best of us.
When we discover this, we are less prone to hate our enemies.
- Martin Luther King, Jr.

Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.
- Martin Luther King, Jr.

Cowardice asks the question - is it safe?
Expediency asks the question - is it politic?
Vanity asks the question - is it popular?
But conscience asks the question - is it right?
And there comes a time when one must take a position
that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular;
but one must take it BECAUSE it is right.
- Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Rarely do we find men who willingly engage in hard, solid thinking.
There is an almost universal quest
for easy answers and half-baked solutions.
Nothing pains some people more than having to think.
- Martin Luther King, Jr.

Nothing in all the world is more dangerous
than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.
- Martin Luther King, Jr.

Further reading: The First Step in Faith

Serve Others

Hate Returns Upon Itself

Gaining Peace Through Peace
      

Share Without Hesitation

If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need
but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him?
- 1 John 3:17

The only wealth which you will keep forever
is the wealth you have given away.
- Marcus Aurelius

Man should not consider his material possession his own,
but as common to all, so as to share them without hesitation when others are in need.
- Saint Thomas Aquinas

Acting selfishly is human nature, and therefore forgivable.
Publicly advocating selfishness as a virtue in the name of Jesus is far worse.

Further reading: We Belong to Each Other

The Power of Generosity

Practicing Compassion

Giving Love and Comfort

Giving of Yourself
      

Teach in Order to Understand

We Learn...
10% of what we read,
20% of what we hear,
30% of what we see,
50% of what we see and hear,
70% of what we discuss,
80% of what we experience,
95% of what we teach others.
- William Glasser

Education is not the answer to the question.
Education is the means to the answer to all questions.
- William Allin

Learning is the beginning of wealth.
Learning is the beginning of health.
Learning is the beginning of spirituality.
Searching and learning is where the miracle process all begins.
- Jim Rohn

True learning is not about facts,
but about conscious appreciation of the experience of living.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Learning from Failure

Learning Through Observation

Knowledge is Soon Changed

Learning From History
    

Canvas to Your Imagination

This world is but a canvas to our imagination.
- Henry David Thoreau

Imagine peace. Imagine love. Imagine oneness.
Imagine whatever most speaks to your heart.
Whatever you can imagine, you can accomplish.
The canvas of life awaits You -
the painter of your dreams.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

The heart, not the head, must be the guide.
- Arthur Erickson

If we would guide by the light of reason we must let our minds be bold.
- Louis D. Brandeis

Affirmation:
I boldly paint my dreams upon the canvas of my life.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Take a moment to sit back, close your eyes,
and visualize what you wish for the world,
what you wish for the future of humankind.

Further reading: Respecting All Life

How to Choose Your Life Purpose

The Quiet Voice of Courage

Flexibility
    

Acceptance and Compassion toward All

You must not lose faith in humanity.
Humanity is an ocean; if a few drops of the ocean are dirty,
the ocean does not become dirty.
- Mohandas (Mahatma) Gandhi

A generous heart, kind speech,
and a life of service and compassion
are the things which renew humanity.
- The Buddha

We cannot despair of humanity,
since we ourselves are human beings.
- Albert Einstein

One way or another, we all have to find
what best fosters the flowering of our humanity
in this contemporary life,
and dedicate ourselves to that.
- Joseph Campbell

Today's affirmation:
I choose acceptance and compassion toward all humanity.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: We are One

We are most like God when we forgive

The Prayer of St. Francis of Assisi

Progress of the Human Mind
      

Storm of Thoughts

The monsters are in your own head.
- Paula Cole

Life does not consist mainly,
or even largely, of facts or happenings.
It consist mainly of the storm of thoughts
that is forever flowing through one's head.
- Mark Twain

If you want peace, stop fighting.
If you want peace of mind,
stop fighting with your thoughts.
- Peter McWilliams

Beware the Rattlesnake of the Mind
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

"Rattlesnake of the Mind" is a metaphor inspired by the Zen term, "Monkey Mind," which refers to the mind's tendency to invent an unending sequence of creative stories about everything we see and hear.

You are not your mind. You, a Spiritual BEing,
are neither your mind nor your body.
Mind and body are your tools - to use as you choose.
Sometimes your body appears to have a will of its own,
as when it twitches or pains.
Likewise, your mind often appears to have its own will.
That incessant chattering of regret, disappointment, guilt,
shame, foreboding, worry, and fear
is your Rattlesnake Mind striking off on its own.
Know that your mind can be a vicious rattlesnake, and be cautious.
The mind can be tamed, but only with conscious effort and patience.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Stilling Your Mind

Ten Little Tips to Feel Happier Right Now
Overflowing Cup of Tea - Zen Koan
      

Dance with the Rain

Life is not about waiting for the storm to pass...
It's about learning how to dance in the rain.
- Vivian Greene

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

When the tempest rages, when the thunders roar,
and the lightnings blaze around us,
it is then that the truly brave man stands firm at his post.
- Luther Martin

Be thou the rainbow in the storms of life.
The evening beam that smiles the clouds away,
and tints tomorrow with prophetic ray.
- Lord Byron

Is today a day to gather strength from the storm -
a day to to learn life lessons for the next battle?
Or is today a day to sit by the fire and watch the storm rage outside?
Either way, the storm is just life.
Give thanks for all of Life.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Celebrating Rainbows and Butterflies - the Small Miracles of Our Life

How to Move On and Let Go

Zero-Based Gratitude
      

Reject Stereotypes

Is freedom anything else than the right
to live as we wish? Nothing else.
- Epictetus

Never allow a person to tell you NO
who doesn't have the power to say YES.
- Eleanor Roosevelt 

To know what you prefer
instead of humbly saying Amen
to what the world tells you you ought to prefer,
is to have kept your soul alive.
- Robert Louis Stevenson

Today's affirmation:
I have no need to conform to the stereotypes others have defined for me.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Each of us has a choice in all matters. There is nothing that any of us ever HAVE to do. Each of us, man or woman, chooses the roles we play, and what we make of our lives at each instant. Expectation and Tradition are burdens we take upon ourselves, or choose to throw off.

Does this mean becoming selfish? Not at all, it means becoming selective. It always means doing what we believe is right, regardless of the expectations of others.

As an example, imagine that our aging parent needs our help. There are three courses we can steer: #1. Care for them, but grumble and complain about how unfair and burdensome life is, how we are expected to provide assistance, and how unhappy it makes us to care for our mom. #2. Choose to make other arrangements for mom's care. #3. Be of service to mom because we CHOOSE to make a free-will gift of our time, energy and love.

I propose that #2 is preferable to #1. Visualizing myself as an aging parent (which doesn't take a lot of imagining), I wouldn't want an unhappy person around me who thought I was a burden. Naturally, I believe that #3 is the best option. But the way to get to #3 is to understand that #2 is also a choice. Unless we truly believe that #2 is an option, we can't reach #3, and we get stuck with #1, feeling resentful and victimized.

Life isn't fair. We can't choose our circumstances. But we can choose happiness, or not.

Conscious choices are NOT easy. It is much easier to believe that we are tossed about helplessly on the ocean of circumstances.

Expectations (Demands) suck the juice out of life. Don't believe that you are bound by the demands of others. You do not have to conform to the stereotypes others have defined for you.

Further reading: Intention versus Expectation (Demand)

Chose Adventure

Why I Choose to Believe that Others are Never the Cause of My Unhappiness

Trust Your Own Wisdom
     

Choose Love, Not Hate

Hatred paralyzes life; love releases it.
Hatred confuses life; love harmonizes it.
Hatred darkens life; love illumines it.
- Martin Luther King Jr.

Hatred does not cease by hatred,
but only by love;
this is the eternal rule.
- The Buddha

Return love for hate.
- Anonymous

Hate destroys, Love builds.
Hate tears down, Love renews and creates.
Hatred holds no hope for the future.
Love creates Today as its own better future.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Categorizing People

Life is a Reflection

Go and Do Likewise

Fear and Love

On the Unworkability of Vengeance
      

Pause

Just stop it. Seriously.
Whatever it is. Just stop it.
If only for an hour, a day, a week.
Stop doing it long enough to get a glimpse
of what the change would actually look like.
- Mary Anne Radmacher

Remember the two benefits of failure.
First, if you do fail, you learn what doesn't work;
and second,
the failure gives you the opportunity to try a new approach.
- Roger von Oech

You can become blind by seeing each day as a similar one.
Each day is a different one, each day brings a miracle of its own.
It's just a matter of paying attention to this miracle.
- Paulo Coelho

Stop holding on to the past.
Release your regrets about whatever you may have done
or failed to do that turned out poorly.
Forgive others for whatever they may have done
or failed to do that cause you harm.
Declare today to be a new beginning.
Let go of the past and move on with creating
a joyful new future for yourself.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: How to Move On and Let Go

Create Completion

Pragmatism
     

What Makes a True Friend

We listen. We listen. We move.
We sit. It rains. The sun comes out. (there stands a friend)
We listen. We laugh. We share.
We sit. We dance. It rains.
There stands a friend.
We listen. We share. We sit. We dance.
The sun comes up.
There. I stand, a friend.
- Mary Anne Radmacher

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

True friends are those who lift you up
when your heart's wings forget how to fly.
- Anonymous

There is a magnet in your heart
that will attract true friends.
That magnet is unselfishness,
thinking of others first;
when you learn to live for others,
they will live for you.
- Paramahansa Yogananda

Further reading: Your Greatest Gift

A True Friend

Rekindle the Light

Today's Art by Suze Stewart
    

From Wonder into Wonder

The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious.
It is the source of all true art and all science.
He to whom this emotion is a stranger,
who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe,
is as good as dead: his eyes are closed.
- Albert Einstein

Wisdom begins in wonder.
- Socrates

Never say there is nothing beautiful in the world anymore.
There is always something to make you wonder
in the shape of a tree, the trembling of a leaf.
- Albert Schweitzer

From wonder into wonder existence opens.
- Lao Tzu

True wisdom comes to each of us when we realize
how little we understand about life,
ourselves, and the world around us.
- Socrates

Further reading: All Life is a Miracle

An Unknowable Future

Appreciate the Basics of Life

Cherish Mystery
    

Carve Your Name on Hearts

A good character is the best tombstone.
Those who loved you and were helped by you will remember
you when forget-me-nots have withered.
Carve your name on hearts, not on marble.
- Charles Spurgeon

What we have done for ourselves alone dies with us;
what we have done for others and the world remains and is immortal.
- Albert Pike

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

How do you want to be remembered? Live life full out - Begin today.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

What do you want written on your tombstone?
It won't be there if you haven't done it.
If you want "never missed a day of work," go for it,
but if you want it said that you radiated happiness to all around -
put a smile on every face - inspired us all to be the best we could be,
was a good friend, perhaps a loving spouse and parent,
you might want to start today to lighten up, and start to put happiness -
yours, your family's, and your friends -
ahead of material success or "achievement."

If you want to do it, do it - TODAY.
What you do TODAY is what others will remember. Make today count. 

Further reading: New Year Suggestions

To Do That Which Will Endure

Seeds You Plant

Legacy to Future Generations
      

Beware of Monotony

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

Habit and routine have an unbelievable power to waste and destroy.
- Henri de Lubac

Beware of monotony; it's the mother of all the deadly sins.
- Edith Wharton

Neither a wise man nor a brave man lies down on the tracks of history
to wait for the train of the future to run over him.
- Dwight D. Eisenhower

Repetition can be a choice, but often it isn't.
The athlete or pianist who practices the same routine
day after day, year after year, has their eye on a goal.
The unending repetition is a conscious choice
in the pursuit of a life dream.
But what about the sameness of most lives?
Observe the morning commute, the after-work drink,
the Sunday football game or religious service -
how many of those people are consciously following their dream,
training their mind, body, and spirit through that daily repetition?
And how many are mindlessly slogging through each day
out of habit and boredom?
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Curious - Adventurous

The Power of Courage

The Myth of Security
       

New Years 2018

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

Happy New Year! Happy New Beginning!

Today, the year is a newborn.
How will we choose to dress it, to feed it, to teach it, to learn from it?

To everything there is a season,
and a time to every purpose under heaven:
A time to be born, and a time to die.
- Ecclesiastes 3:1

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

Further reading: New Years Resolutions

The First Day

Old Beginnings versus NEW beginnings

Renewal and Rebirth - The Great Cycle

A Better Plan