Power Amplifies the Good or Evil Already in a Person

Money and success don’t change people; they merely amplify what is already there.
- Will Smith

You can easily judge the character of others
by how they treat those who can
do nothing for them or to them.
- Malcolm S. Forbes

Nearly all men can stand adversity,
but if you want to test a man's character, give him power.
- Abraham Lincoln

Force always attracts men of low morality.
- Albert Einstein

Power is of two kinds. One is obtained by the fear of punishment
and the other by acts of love. Power based on love
is a thousand times more effective and permanent
then the one derived from fear of punishment.
- Mohandas (Mahatma) Gandhi

Further reading: Who You Are

Doing What You Know Is Right

Your Most Important Values

A Place for Honor

Taking Action About Things That Matter
      

Death is Going Home to God

Death is nothing else but going home to God,
the bond of love will be unbroken for all eternity.
- Mother Teresa

While we are mourning the loss of our friend,
others are rejoicing to meet him behind the veil.
- John Taylor

It is in dying that we are born to eternal life.
- St. Francis of Assisi

Life and death are one thread, the same line viewed from different sides.
- Lao Tzu

"I go to prepare a place for you."
- John 14:2

There is no death, only a change of worlds.
- Chief Seattle

Death is not extinguishing the light;
it is only putting out the lamp because the dawn has come.
- Rabindranath Tagore

Further reading: Death - Comfort

Have a Conversation With God, Today

Feel Your Connection With the Infinite - a Meditation

Unanswered Prayers

Let Each Day be a Thanksgiving
      

Think Deeply, Choose Wisely

Believe nothing, no matter where you read it,
or who said it, no matter if I have said it,
unless it agrees with your own reason
and your own common sense.
- The Buddha

Each man is the architect of his own fate.
- Appius Claudius

Don't follow any advice, no matter how good,
until you feel as deeply in your spirit as you think
in your mind that the counsel is wise.
- Joan Rivers

Since you are the one who has to live with your choices,
be sure they are your own.
- Alan Cohen

Further reading: To Thine Own Self Be True

Don't Take It Personally

Encourage Me

True to Your Best
    

Your Heart-Drum

Do what you feel in your heart to be right.
You'll be criticized anyway.
- Eleanor Roosevelt

March to the beat of your own drum.
- Proverb

The way is not in the sky.
The way is in the heart.
- The Buddha

Set Life's Rhythm with Your Heart-Drum
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Today's affirmation:
I follow my own star and my own inner compass.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Primal Rhythmic Power

The Beat of the Universe

Color Today Bright
      

Let Life Flow

By letting it go, it all gets done.
The world is won by those who let it go.
But when you try and try,
The world is beyond the winning.
- Lao Tzu

Besides the noble art of getting things done,
there is the noble art of leaving things undone.
The wisdom of life consists in the elimination of non-essentials.
- Lin Yutang

Zen does not confuse spirituality with thinking about
God while one is peeling potatoes.
Zen spirituality is just to peel the potatoes.
- Alan Watts

The things of this world exist;
they are; you can't refuse them.
- Lao Tzu

Be - don't try to become.
Being is enlightenment, becoming is ignorance.
- Osho

Further reading: Stillness

Paradox

Gratitude for THIS Moment

Stay Adaptable
    

There are Always Opportunities

In the midst of difficulty lies opportunity.
- Albert Einstein

Not what we experience,
but how we perceive what we experience,
determines our fate.
- Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach

Stay Alert, and doors will open.
You can never know when and where a magic door will open for you,
so pay attention, stay watchful, and never give up hope.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Every problem has in it the seeds of its own solution.
If you don't have any problems, you don't get any seeds.
- Norman Vincent Peale

Further reading: Pay Attention

The Door Will Be Opened To You

What We Perceive
        

God Dwelling Within Each of Us

The highest revelation is that God is in every man.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

When the vast cathedral of our being
becomes a sanctuary for all creation,
we become the face of God.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

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

Be completely humble and gentle;
be patient, bearing with one another in love.
Keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.
There is one body and one Spirit.
- Ephesians 4:2-4

Further reading: Unity with Spirit and All Creation

Perspective on Diversity

Give Thanks for the Love

Again Tomorrow
       

Escape Conformity

To go against the dominant thinking of your friends,
of most of the people you see every day,
is perhaps the most difficult act of heroism you can perform.
- Theodore H. White

The opposite of courage in our society
is not cowardice, it is conformity.
- Rollo May

Life is a sum of all your choices.
- Albert Camus

Today's affirmation
I CHOOSE with Open Mind and Open Heart.
I renounce all assumptions and expectations.
I thoughtfully consider all possibilities.
I CHOOSE with courage, awareness, consciousness, and compassion toward all.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Doing What You Know Is Right

The Trouble with Conformity

Making a Decision

Embrace Change

Try Being Outrageous
       

New Day, New Opportunity

Every day brings new choices.
- Martha Beck

Unless you try to do something
beyond what you have already mastered,
you will never grow.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

Continuity gives us roots; change gives us branches,
letting us stretch and grow and reach new heights.
- Pauline R. Kezer

Another Sunrise, Another New Beginning.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Every day is a new beginning -
a day for a new plan and new action.
If today, in conscious awareness, you choose
the same plan as yesterday, you are wise.
If you choose a different plan, you are equally wise.
Whatever you choose, choose with intention.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Begin Today in a New Way

Unlimited Opportunity

Your Life has Just Begun

Let Go of Your Attachment to Your Plans
      

Around the Globe

Distance does not decide who is your brother and who is not.
- Bono

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

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

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

Further reading: Respect the Right to be Different

Unity in One Body and One Spirit

Appreciate Your Blessings

All Brothers and Sisters
      

Dance with the Wind

I will dance a little. I will move with the wind.
- Mary Anne Radmacher

The journey between what you once were
and who you are now becoming
is where the dance of Life really takes place.
- Barbara De Angelis

Do you realize that you can't play the game of life with sweaty palms?
- Phil McGraw

Live to experience something new each day -
to learn something new, to meet a new friend,
to bring joy into someone's life,
to feel the wind newly on your skin,
to touch a new fear and a new anger,
and with focused intent and good fortune,
to find an ample measure of your own joy.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: The Dance of Life

Life is Love - Enjoy It

Choose to Dance
      

Avoid Complaint

How is it that one rails against that
which is nearly a certainty?
- Mary Anne Radmacher

He who avoids complaint invites happiness.
- Abu Bakr

To deny the facts would be illogical.
- the character Spock in the television series Star Trek

If you want reality to be different than it is,
you might as well try to teach a cat to bark.
- Byron Katie

Do not rail against life. [Do not complain about life.]
Make positive contributions where you can.
Practice gracious acceptance elsewhere.
And express daily gratitude for all of life.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Don't Resist Life

Do What You Can; Trust God With The Rest

Serenity rather than Fear

I Will Fear No Evil
      

Staying True to Righteousness

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

The greatest hazard of all, losing one's self,
can occur very quietly in the world,
as if it were nothing at all.
- Soren Kierkegaard

I think it better to do right, even if we suffer in so doing,
than to incur the reproach of our consciences and posterity.
- Robert E. Lee

The man who has won millions at the cost of his conscience is a failure.
- B. C. Forbes

Further reading: Compassion is Morality

Set an Impeccable Example

Act on Your Principles
Honor Your Commitments       

Pray for Your "Enemies"

Hate is never conquered by hate,
Hate is only conquered by love.
- The Buddha

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

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

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: Hatred vs. Love

Words of Truth and Love

With Love in My Heart

Revenge, the Deadliest Sin
       

St. Patrick's Day 2018

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 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

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

Further reading: How to be Happier in Life

Celebrating the Small Miracles of Our Life

Words of Comfort on the Death of a Loved One
      

Love Without Demanding Change

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

If you love something, set it free;
if it comes backs it's yours,
if it doesn't, it never was.
- Richard Bach

A loving relationship is one in which
the loved one is free to be himself -
to laugh with me, but never at me;
to cry with me, but never because of me;
to love life, to love himself,
to love being loved.
Such a relationship is based upon freedom
and can never grow in a jealous heart.
- Leo F. Buscaglia

Love allows your beloved the freedom to be unlike you.
Attachment asks for conformity to your needs and desires.
Love imposes no demands.
Attachment expresses an overwhelming demand – "Make me feel whole."
Love expands beyond the limits of two people.
Attachment tries to exclude everything but two people.
- Deepak Chopra

Further reading: Great Relationships

Love is Everything

What is Love?

The #1 Secret of Great Relationships
        

Lighthearted and Cheerful

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

Oscar Wilde was a writer, playwright, humorist, satirist,
and astute observer of the human condition.
What does he mean by, "Life is too important to be taken seriously?"
Is it just a simple joke?

"Serious" can mean thoughtful, careful and profound,
but it also can mean unsmiling, grim, and humorless.

I am inclined to paraphrase Wilde as...
Life is too valuable to spend time not being lighthearted.

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

Dance lightly with life today and every day.
Life is too short not to be joyful and celebrate each day.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

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: As a Child Again

Time to Smell the Flowers

Humor in the Face of Adversity

Be Gentle with Yourself
      

Your Real Mind

He who knows others is wise.
He who knows himself is enlightened.
- Lao Tzu

Trust yourself. You know more than you think you do.
- Benjamin Spock

Find out what you don't want to know about yourself,
what you're afraid of.
- Linda Evans

You can't know your real mind as long as you deceive yourself.
- Bodhidharma

How strange that, although we dwell within ourselves,
we seldom know what we truly want
or what we truly believe about important matters.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Be Simply Yourself

Know Thyself

At the center of your being you have the answer

Follow Your Bliss
      

Taming Obstacles

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

Press on.
Obstacles are seldom the same size tomorrow as they are today.
- Robert H. Schuller

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

Obstacles are like wild animals.
They are cowards but they will bluff you if they can.
If they see you are afraid of them...
they are liable to spring upon you;
but if you look them squarely in the eye,
they will slink out of sight.
- Orison Swett Marden

Further reading: How to Motivate Yourself

Choose Your Habits, Choose Your Life

Later is Never
       

Childlike Wonder and Curiosity

Become more and more innocent,
less knowledgeable and more childlike.
Take life as fun -
because that's precisely what it is!
- Osho

Innocence isn't ever lost completely;
we just need to maintain our goodness to regain it.
- Jewel

Children are born innocent.
Before they are domesticated they live in the moment,
love without fear, and don't even think about the opinions of others.
- don Miguel Ruiz

Bringing a childlike wonder
and a beginner's mind to life
maximizes both success and joy.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

A newborn does not have worry, or stress, or anger, because they have not yet learned those things. Consider what life would be like if you could forget all the past resentments and perceived offenses that color your thinking and your emotions. Buddhists call that state "beginner mind" - an opening to experience life without the jaundiced filter of past disappointments.

Further reading: Reverence

Growing Up - Staying Young

Natural Web
    

Loving All Tenderly

This is what the Lord asks of you: only this,
to act justly, to love tenderly,
and to walk humbly with your God.
- Micah 6:8

Nothing I say can explain to you Divine Love
Yet all of creation cannot seem to stop talking about it.
- Rumi

Divine love will meet all human needs
- Mary Baker Eddy

Know that you are loved.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Know that You have been Blessed

Divine Spark

Have a Conversation With God, Today
        

Life Requires Flexibility

The boldness of asking deep questions may require
unforeseen flexibility if we are to accept the answers.
- Brian Greene

Those who can see value only in tradition,...
deny man's ability to adapt to changing circumstances.
- Stephen Bayley

Let no one think that flexibility
and a predisposition to compromise
is a sign of weakness or a sell-out.
- Paul Kagame

In science the important thing is to modify and change
one's ideas as science advances.
- Herbert Spencer

Be resolute in your goals, but flexible in your tactics.
There are times that call for repetition and perseverance;
and there are times that require new ways of thinking and doing.
The challenge is knowing one from the other.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Be Flexible

I choose to adapt to the circumstances in which I find myself

Practice makes perfect - sometimes

New Ideas
       

Someone to Inspire Us

Some people come into our lives and quickly go.
Some people stay for awhile, and move our souls to dance.
They awaken us to a new understanding,
leave footprints on our hearts,
and we are never, ever the same.
- Flavia Weedn

Our chief want is someone who will inspire us
to be what we know we could be.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson 

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

Life is unlimited.
Your world expands with the generosity, compassion,
inventiveness, and service that you contribute.
Money that is spent or given away returns multiplied.
The more love that is given, the more love returns.
The more a helping hand is given, the more hands
are strengthened and empowered to help.
We can help each other to all be winners.
We can all have food, and jobs, and love, and happiness.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Act on Your Principles

Teaching by Example

Build Strength to Help Others
      

Welcome Headwinds

You can't soar without a headwind.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

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

Do not pray for easy lives.
Pray to be stronger men.
- John F. Kennedy

When life is too easy for us, we must beware
or we may not be ready to meet the blows
which sooner or later come to everyone, rich or poor.
- Eleanor Roosevelt

Overcome obstacles - grow and bloom anyway.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: We Must Sail, Not Drift

Serenity rather than Fear

As Hard As You Think It Is

Opportunity within Crisis
      

Reach for the Brass Ring

Be curious; be adventurous; live life full-out.
Accept the challenge, and reach for the brass ring.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Life must be lived and curiosity kept alive.
One must never, for whatever reason, turn his back on life.
- Eleanor Roosevelt

A mind that is stretched by a new experience
can never go back to its old dimensions.
- Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.

We keep moving forward, opening new doors, and doing new things,
because we're curious and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths.
- Walt Disney

Further reading: Keep Moving

Be Boldly Decisive

Learn from Failure

Follow Your Bliss
      

Sing the Song of Life

A bird does not sing because it has an answer.
It sings because it has a song.
- Chinese Proverb

We thought that we had the answers,
it was the questions we had wrong.
- Bono

Sing like no one's listening,
love like you've never been hurt,
dance like nobody's watching,
and live like its heaven on earth.
- Mark Twain

Indifferent to whether your mood is grumpy or cheerful,
Nature always sings her passionate song of joyful celebration.
You can never stop the happy song of life,
so join the celebration -
sing along, dance, make love,
smile your biggest smile, and cheer on God's music.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Answers

The Mysterious

Profound Questions

Soar Your Spirit

What We Expect to See

Release Uncertainty, Regret, and Fear

For all sad words of tongue and pen,
The saddest are these, "It might have been."
- John Greenleaf Whittier

I rest in the light of forgiveness.
I forgive myself and others for that
which is done (and better left undone)
and also that which is not done (and better if done).
I give myself permission to enjoy this moment without guilt.
I freely release all uncertainty, regret, and fear.
- Mary Anne Radmacher

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

Further reading: How to get over regrets and resentments

Never Second Guess Yourself

Forgiveness Releases the Past
    

True Friend

A true friend is one who believes in you when you have ceased to believe in yourself.
- Anonymous

At times our own light goes out
and is rekindled by a spark from another person.
Each of us has cause to think with deep gratitude
of those who have lighted the flame within us.
- Albert Schweitzer

A friend is someone who won't stop
until he finds you and brings you home.
- Fraser Sr. in the movie Due South

Friends share our pain and touch our wounds
with a gentle and tender hand.
- Henri Nouwen

Be thankful to those who have offered us challenges, rather than easy answers.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Today's affirmation: I gratefully accept the light and pay it forward.

Further reading: Appreciating Friends

Pay It Forward - as an Expression of Universal Gratitude

Give Love and Comfort
      

Burn Brightly

Life is not a problem to be solved, but a reality to be experienced.
- Soren Kierkegaard

As far as we can discern,
the sole purpose of human existence
is to kindle a light in the darkness of mere being.
- Carl Jung

Chaos is the score upon which reality is written.
- Henry Miller

I would rather be ashes than dust!
I would rather that my spark should burn out in a brilliant blaze
than it should be stifled by dry rot.
I would rather be a superb meteor,
every atom of me in magnificent glow,
than a sleepy and permanent planet.
The proper function of man is to live, not to exist.
I shall not waste my days in trying to prolong them.
I shall use my time.
- Jack London

Further reading: Create Your Own Inspired Future

Be Passionate

Discover New Worlds

Fully Living Your God-Given Life
      

Feel Good about Being Yourself

Be simply yourself and don't compare or compete.
- Lao Tzu

The whole world can gossip about you,
and if you don't take it personally you are immune.
- don Miguel Ruiz

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

No amount of self-improvement can make up
for a lack of self-acceptance.
- Anonymous

Today's affirmation:
I do not need anyone's permission to be my true self.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie


Further reading: How to Love Yourself

How to Deal with Rejection

Need For Approval

The Basis of Morality

Compassion is the basis of morality.
- Arthur Schopenhauer

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

The test of the morality of a society is what it does for its children.
- Dietrich Bonhoeffer

It is my choice to care deeply about others.
No kindness is too small to be important -
the smile to the bank teller,
the sincere "thank you" for all kindnesses received,
the reassuring hand on the shoulder of a loved one or friend.
There is compassion in selfless generosity,
but there is also compassion in heartfelt empathy.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: What Does Compassion Look Like?

Take Charge of Your Life - 9 Secrets for Getting Un-Stuck

Full Measure of a Person

Feeding the Children

Being of Service