Evolving Toward Cooperation

A small body of determined spirits
fired by an unquenchable faith
in their mission
can alter the course of history.
- Mohandas (Mahatma) Gandhi

If you want to be incrementally better: Be competitive.
If you want to be exponentially better: Be cooperative.
- Anonymous

Though force can protect in emergency,
only justice, fairness, consideration and cooperation
can finally lead men to the dawn of eternal peace.
- Dwight D. Eisenhower

Competition has been shown to be useful
up to a certain point and no further,
but cooperation, which is the thing
we must strive for today,
begins where competition leaves off.
- Franklin D. Roosevelt

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.
Do you ever question why our educational system
teaches competition rather than cooperation?
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

If you can laugh together, you can work together.
- Robert Orben

Further reading: A Shared Dream

Standing Together

Win-Win vs. Compromise

Progress of the Human Mind
       

Prayer of St. Francis of Assisi

The Prayer of St. Francis of Assisi
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace,
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
where there is sadness, joy.
O Divine Master,
grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console;
to be understood as to understand;
to be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive;
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.
- although attributed to St. Francis of Assisi,
this prayer first appeared (written in French) in 1912

Further reading: The Universal Sacrament of Compassion

Doing God's Work

Feed Just One

Be an Open Channel

Peace IS the Way
      

Never Lose Your Dreams

The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.
- Eleanor Roosevelt

Hold fast to dreams, for if dreams die,
life is a broken winged bird that cannot fly.
- Langston Hughes

You see things and you say, Why?
But I dream things that never were and say, Why not
- George Bernard Shaw

Believe in yourself. Dream big dreams.
Set important goals. Take action on those goals.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Steve Jobs' Three Rules of Life

Never Lose Hope

How to Choose Your Life Purpose

Choose With Intention
        

Success Requires Optimism

If we say, "This is never going to work..."
then chances are excellent it never will.
- John Assaraf

Pessimism leads to weakness, optimism to power.
- William James

Every optimist moves along with progress and hastens it,
while every pessimist would keep the world at a standstill.
- Helen Keller

Whatever happens, always look to tomorrow -
with courage and optimism.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Optimism

Be the Melody

Mental Attitude
      

Always Act with Compassion

The purpose of human life is to serve,
and to show compassion and the will to help others.
- Albert Schweitzer

Start each day with a heartfelt prayer that reaffirms
your intention to always act with compassion and love.
- Lama Surya Das

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

Giving liberates the soul of the giver.
- Maya Angelou

Further reading: Spread Love

Compassion and Morality

Become Kinder

God IS Compassion
     

Have the Courage to Begin Today

Knowing is not enough; we must apply.
Willing is not enough; we must do.
- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Only put off until tomorrow
what you are willing to die having left undone.
- Pablo Picasso

You can't cross the sea merely by standing and staring at the water.
- Rabindranath Tagore

The risk of a wrong decision
is preferable to the terror of indecision.
- Maimonides

Today's affirmation:
I boldly set sail with courage and intent.
I hold my course with focused attention and relentless commitment,
as I weather the storms of life.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Action Overcomes Fear

Wanting is Not Enough

Feed Just One

Act Today
       

Progress Requires Overcoming Resistence

The world hates change, yet it is the only thing that has brought progress.
- Charles Kettering (1876-1958 - holder of 186 US Patents, including the automotive electric starter)

New ideas pass through three periods:
1) It can't be done.
2) It probably can be done, but it's not worth doing.
3) I knew it was a good idea all along!
- Arthur C. Clarke

A person with a new idea is a crank until the idea succeeds.
- Mark Twain

If you want to make enemies, try to change something.
-Woodrow Wilson

Ideas, yes.
Inspiration, yes.
Creativity, yes.
Planning, yes.
Perseverance, yes.
More perseverance, yes.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: A Better Plan

Progress

Flexibility

Cheer for Endings
        

Do Your Best, Accept the Rest

Things turn out best for the people
who make the best of the way things turn out.
- Art Linkletter

Do you remember the things you were worrying about a year ago?
Didn't you waste a lot of fruitless energy
on account of most of them?
Didn't most of them turn out all right after all?
- Dale Carnegie

Success seems to be connected with action.
Successful people keep moving.
They make mistakes, but they don't quit.
- Conrad Hilton

Some decisions don't turn out well,
but if you did your best,
you have nothing to be ashamed of.
Never second guess your decisions.
Keep learning, keep trying,
and always do your best.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Do your best, accept the rest.
Stop demanding joy, attention and friends.
Allow people to disregard you, it's fine.
Who you are should never depend on externalities like your image or possessions.
Every externality can fade (looks, fame, power, money, etc.)
Become ZEN!
- afcpoop on Reddit

Further reading: Let It Go - Zen

Forgive Yourself

Fear of Striking Out

How to get over regrets and resentments

Maybe So, Maybe Not. - Ancient Taoist Proverb
       

Love is the Great Miracle

Where there is great love there are always miracles.
- Willa Cather

Love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy into friend.
- Martin Luther King, Jr.

Where love is, there God is also.
- Mohandas (Mahatma) Gandhi

As selfishness and complaint
pervert and cloud the mind,
so love with its joy
clears and sharpens the vision.
- Helen Keller

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

Love is the greatest force for good.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Where There is Love, Nothing is Missing - a Parable

Love: the Greatest Force for Good.

Miracles are Expressions of Love
       

Playing the Cards You're Dealt

Life consists not in holding good cards
but in playing those you hold well.
- Josh Billings

You play the hand you're dealt.
I think the game's worthwhile.
- Christopher Reeve

All men and women are born, live, suffer and die;
what distinguishes us one from another is our dreams,
whether they be dreams about worldly or unworldly things,
and what we do to make them come about.
We do not choose to be born.
We do not choose our parents.
We do not choose our historical epoch,
the country of our birth,
or the immediate circumstances of our upbringing.
We do not, most of us, choose to die;
nor do we choose the time and conditions of our death.
But within this realm of choicelessness, we do choose how we live.
- Joseph Epstein

Customs form us all.
Our thoughts, our morals, our most fixed beliefs,
are consequences of our place of birth.
- Aaron Hill
Yet within these quite extreme constraints, progress, success, and happiness are still possible.

We all have free will, but only within the harsh constraints of predestination.
Within the limits placed upon our lives by the circumstances of our genes,
our place and condition of birth, the parenting we receive, and other events beyond our control,
we are defined by the free will we can still exercise.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Our circumstances define the playing field, not the outcome.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Do What You Can Do

Choose to Soar

Making Dreams Come True
      

Your Inner Guidance

Intuition will tell the thinking mind where to look next.
- Jonas Salk

Whatever you do, you need courage.
Whatever course you decide upon,
there is always someone to tell you
that you are wrong.
There are always difficulties arising
that tempt you to believe your critics are right.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

Follow your dreams, believe in yourself and don't give up.
- Rachel Corrie

Trust in yourself.
Your perceptions are often far more accurate
than you are willing to believe.
- Claudia Black

Trust your own inner guidance.
Have faith that your steps are
carrying you toward your dreams.
Keep your eyes on the heavens
and believe that your feet will carry you well.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Confidence is Half of Victory

Uncharted Territory

The Symphony of Your Life
      

The Human Race is Our Family Circle

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

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

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

Further reading: One Human Race

Keep the Golden Rule

Each Other's Eyes

Their Point of View
      

Love is Never Domination

Love does not claim possession, but gives freedom.
- Rabindranath Tagore

You Don't Own Me [watch the video]
- song by John Madara and David White
- sung by Lesley Gore

He that is jealous is not in love.
- Saint Augustine

We really have to understand the person we want to love.
If our love is only a will to possess, it is not love.
If we only think of ourselves, if we know only our
own needs and ignore the needs of the other person,
we cannot love.
- Thich Nhat Hanh

You know you love someone when you know
you want them to be happy,
even if their happiness means
that you are not a part of it.
- Anonymous

Further reading: The #1 Secret of Great Relationships

Granting Space

Love Tenderly

A Loving Relationship
       

Live Joyfully

Find a place inside where there's joy,
and the joy will burn out the pain.
- Joseph Campbell

Joyfulness keeps the heart and face young.
A good laugh makes us better friends with ourselves and everybody around us.
- Orison Swett Marden

In choosing joy, the finish line dissolves
into a different matter altogether.
- Mary Anne Radmacher

Instead of dwelling on negative thoughts,
cause your mind to dwell on peace and joy.
- Ernest Holmes

Today's affirmation:
I accept Life's invitation to Dance Joyfully.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Live Fully and Joyfully

Appreciate Your Life

Fully Experience This Moment
      

Facts Don't Change With One's Opinions Or Beliefs

Everyone is entitled to his own opinion,
but not his own facts.
- Daniel Patrick Moynihan

Keep the company of those who seek the truth;
run from those who have found it.
- Václav Havel

When we blindly adopt a religion,
a political system, a literary dogma,
we become automatons. We cease to grow.
- Anais Nin

The presence of those seeking the truth
is infinitely to be preferred
to the presence of those who think they've found it.
- Terry Pratchett

If you would be a real seeker after truth,
it is necessary that at least once in your life you doubt,
as far as possible, all things.
- Rene Descartes

Believe those who are seeking the truth.
Doubt those who find it.
- Andre Gide

Facts Don't Change With One's Opinions Or Beliefs.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Everyone has an opinion on many subjects
and is ready to share those opinions -
labeling them as "truth."
Sometimes it is relatively easy
to filter out these opinions.
Upon hearing an ad for the latest
weight-loss powder on late-night TV,
our skepticism leaps to our defense.
However, if we have heard the same opinion for years
from our parents, friends,
government officials, or religious leaders,
we are more likely to believe without questioning
than to raise our filter of skepticism
and ask the hard questions.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Be a Seeker

Truth Does Not Convert

The Golden Rule and "The Truth"

The Illusion of Knowledge
     

Wisdom to Know the Difference

God grant me the serenity
To accept the things I cannot change;
the courage to change the things I can;
and the wisdom to know the difference.
- Reinhold Niebuhr (Serenity Prayer)
My thoughts on the Serenity Prayer and more thoughts

Do what you can, and do it well.
Accept the rest with equanimity, and trust in God.
No one can ever do more than that.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Make the best use of what is in your power,
and take the rest as it happens.
- Epictetus

You have to accept whatever comes
and the only important thing is that you meet it with courage
and with the best that you have to give.
- Eleanor Roosevelt

Today's affirmation:
I practice non-resistance.
I accept the wisdom of God
in creating the world exactly as it is.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Letting Go and Accepting This Moment

Serenity in Times of Crisis

Eye Of The Storm
    

Regret is Futile and Wasteful

Regrets are the tears of choices not made
and of good deeds left undone
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

He who spends time regretting the past,
loses the present and risks the future.
- Quevedo

Regret is an appalling waste of energy,
you can't build on it - it's only good for wallowing in.
- Katherine Mansfield

Life is too short, time is too precious,
and the stakes are too high
to dwell on what might have been.
- Hillary Clinton

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

Further reading: How to get over regrets and resentments

Choose to Love Life

Do What You Can Do
      

Become Centered, Breathe

When you become centered, suddenly there is great freedom
because you know you are not the mind and you are not the body.
- Osho

A mind at peace, a mind centered and not focused on harming others,
is stronger than any physical force in the universe.
- Wayne Dyer

Flow with whatever may happen and let your mind be free.
Stay centered by accepting whatever you are doing.
- Zhuangzi

Breathe deeply and slowly.
Let yourself become centered - shut out all distractions.
Breathe out your worries; empty your body of regrets and resentments.
Breathe in eternal peace; let your body fill with unconditional love.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Conscious Breathing to Relieve Stress

Breath by Breath

Forgiveness: Path to Inner Peace

Gratitude for THIS Moment
       

Gift of Happiness

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

Happiness is like a kiss.
You must share it to enjoy it.
- Bernard Meltzer

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

Choosing to live a happy life is not only our greatest gift to ourselves,
it is also the greatest gift we can give to those around us.
When we are happy, we radiate happiness, and that is infectious.
Consider giving the gift of happiness to yourself as being your gift to all humanity.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

The purpose of our lives is to be happy.
- Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama

Please invite your friends to use the form at www.jlhuie.com to sign themselves up for these Daily Inspiration emails.

Further reading: Happiness Depends upon Ourselves

Choose Joy Anyway

Cease Striving to Find Happiness

Happiness in Cheering Others
       

Overcoming Obstacles Requires Thought as well as Stamina

If you run into a wall, don't turn around and give up.
Figure out how to climb it, go through it, or work around it.
- Michael Jordan

Achievement seems to be connected with action.
Successful men and women keep moving.
They make mistakes, but they don't quit.
- Conrad Hilton

The successful man will profit from his mistakes and
try again in a different way.
- Dale Carnegie

Overcoming Obstacles Requires Thought as well as Stamina.
Choose your goal and keep your eye on it. Never give up.
Perhaps you will need to change your plan
and approach you goal from a different direction, but don't quit.
Keep thinking. Keep re-planning. Keep going.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Stand Up To Your Obstacles

Another Door

Don't Give Up

You Can Do It

Keep Moving
      

Release Your Attachments

Before moving on, you have to clear away your cherished beliefs.
- Dick Raymond

What's done is done.
- William Shakespeare

There's a trick to the Graceful Exit.
It begins with the vision to recognize when a job, a life stage,
a relationship is over - and to let go.
It means leaving what's over without denying its value.
- Ellen Goodman

All life is change.
Release your attachment to the way things have been,
and wend your way joyfully
through life's unfolding majesty.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Don Miguel Ruiz: The Four Agreements - The Wisdom of the Ages in Four Sound-Bites 

Let Go of Your Attachment to Your Plans

A Better Plan

Illusions Lost
      

Breathe and Give Thanks

He who can give thanks for little
will always find he has enough.
- Anonymous

Fully experience THIS moment -
breathe in, breathe out - nothing more.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Be Here Now
- Ram Dass

When you arise in the morning, think of what a precious
privilege it is to be alive -
to breathe,
to think, to enjoy, to love.
- Marcus Aurelius

Further reading: Give Thanks

Gratitude and Life

Be Fully Present in TODAY

Nurture Yourself Today
     

All Children are Blessed

Every child comes with the message
that God is not yet discouraged of man.
- Rabindranath Tagore

Let this be a time to honor all children
and to put ourselves into service
preserving a magnificent earthly home for future generations.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

If there is anything we wish to change in the child,
we should first examine it and see
whether it is not something that could better be changed in ourselves.
- Carl Jung

Migrants and refugees are not pawns on the chessboard of humanity.
They are children, women and men who share a legitimate desire for being more.
- Pope Francis

The greatest challenge ...
is not the exploring of the mysteries of the outer space,
but the developing of the millions of God's forgotten children,
the developing peoples of the world,
so they can become our equal
and full partners to build a better world -
a world of freedom and brotherhood.
- Jimmy Yen

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

Further reading: Our Grandchildren

A Parent's Gift

Our Children's Earth
A Truly Successful Life
        

A Rainbows and Butterflies Kind of Day

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.
- Irish Blessing

Lighten up, have a rainbows and butterflies kind of day.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

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

The best portion of a good man's life
is his little, nameless, unremembered
acts of kindness and of love.
- William Wordsworth

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

Further reading: Life as Play

Simple Living and Small Pleasures

Cherish the Whimsey

Boldly Paint Your Life
      

Mistakes Always Precede Success

Mistakes are the portals of discovery.
- James Joyce

The greatest mistake you can make in life
is to be continually fearing you will make one.
- Elbert Hubbard

It's better to be boldly decisive and risk being wrong
than to agonize at length and be right too late.
- Marilyn Moats Kennedy

Once we realize that imperfect understanding is the
human condition there is no shame in being wrong,
only in failing to correct our mistakes.
- George Soros

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

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

Mistakes Always Precede Success.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Fear of Striking Out

Never Second Guess Yourself

Make a Decision
       

Is Believing "The World is Perfect" a Path to God and/or Happiness?

I remind you, as I often do, that these daily emails are intended to inspire deep thinking about the subject matter, and not to dictate answers intended to satisfy everyone's individual needs and perspectives.

The world is perfect.
It's a mess. It has always been a mess.
We are not going to change it.
Our job is to straighten out our own lives.
- Joseph Campbell

The world is perfect.
As you question your mind, this becomes more and more obvious.
Mind changes, and as a result, the world changes.
A clear mind heals everything that needs to be healed.
It can never be fooled into believing that there is one speck out of order.
- Byron Katie

Your life within God's arms,
Your dance within God's arms,
Is already Perfect!
- Hafiz

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

It is not our place to know the mind of God.
Spirit knows what is best in the long run -
best for each of us individually,
and best for humanity as a whole.
This is often very difficult to accept
when we see war and disease in the world
and experience physical and emotional suffering
in ourselves, our family, and our friends.
I consider this belief in God's infinite power
and ultimate wisdom to be the true test of faith.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

What does it mean to say "the world is perfect" when clearly the world is full of suffering?
For someone who believes that God is both omnipotent (infinitely powerful) and omnibenevolent (infinitely good), the world MUST be perfect because an omnipotent omnibenevolent God would by definition create a perfect world -- and if we mortals do not see this world as perfect, it must be our own failure of perception (for example, accomplishing God's longer term goal for the world). See the Wikipedia article on the "Problem of Evil" for more on this.

For those who don't believe there is a God (or believe in multiple gods), the world is "perfect" simply because this is the way it is. We can change the world over time, but at this exact instant, the world is as it is, and the "perfect" way for it to be right now. This viewpoint eliminates the suffering associated with demanding that the world be different than it is. Read more at Byron Katie - No one can give you freedom but you.
     

Courage Stronger than Fear

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

Fear defeats more people than
any other one thing in the world.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

We must build dikes of courage
to hold back the flood of fear.
- Martin Luther King, Jr.

In this world there is always danger
for those who are afraid of it.
- George Bernard Shaw

Fear is the root of the tree of suffering.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: How to Stop Worrying

Eight Rules for Living Your Greatest Life

Overcoming Fear

Depressed? Laugh!
       

Looking Beyond Circumstances

Happiness is not a brilliant climax to years of grim struggle and anxiety.
It is a long succession of little decisions
simply to be happy in the moment.
- J. Donald Walters

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

The only reason you suffer is because you choose to suffer.
The only reason you are happy is because you choose to be happy.
Happiness is a choice, and so is suffering.
- don Miguel Ruiz

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

You don't need a reason to be happy,
just a choice.
Happiness is the Choice to be Happy in This Moment
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Moving Beyond Misfortune

Expect Nothing

Attitude of Happiness
      

When You Feel Overwhelmed...

A hero is an ordinary individual
who finds the strength to persevere
and endure in spite of overwhelming obstacles.
- Christopher Reeve

If we don't see a failure as a challenge to modify our approach,
but rather as a problem with ourselves, as a personality defect,
we will immediately feel overwhelmed.
- Anthony Robbins

Feeling sorry for yourself, and your present condition,
is not only a waste of energy
but the worst habit you could possibly have.
- Dale Carnegie

Improve what you can
and accept all the rest of life
just as it comes.
Know that fear is your worst enemy -
perhaps your only enemy.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

When you feel overwhelmed...

1. Ask yourself, "What is the smallest list of tasks that I MUST accomplish TODAY?"
2. Work on that short list right now. Don't be afraid to ask for help.
3. Don't worry about anything not on the short list. Read How to Stop Worrying if you need help with this.
4. Don't blame yourself for feeling overwhelmed, for having gotten yourself into this situation, or for anything else. If you have failed at some task, that does not make you-the-person a failure. If you need help getting in touch with your own worthiness read How to Feel Good About Yourself.

Further reading: How to Cope with Loneliness

All Life is a Risk

How to Feel Better About Yourself

Don't Borrow Trouble

How to Gain Self Confidence
      

Easter 2018

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

Love one another.
- Jesus of Nazareth (John 13:34)

Our Lord has written the promise of the resurrection,
not in books alone, but in every leaf in spring-time.
- Martin Luther

Guide our feet into the way of peace.
- Luke 1:79

On this day, let us affirm the core values of unconditional love of all humans and an uncompromising commitment to caring for all who are sick, infirm, or troubled - as expressed in the biblical story of the Good Samaritan. (Read more on Loving your enemies, the Golden Rule, and the parable of The Good Samaritan)

Further reading: Jesus own Words about Forgiveness and Unconditional Love

Go and Do Likewise

The Power of Unconditional Love