This Moment is What We Have

There is only one time that is important - NOW!
It is the most important time because
it is the only time that we have any power.
- Leo Tolstoy

Yesterday is ashes.
Tomorrow is green wood.
Only today does the fire burn brightly.
- Inuit Saying

Do not dwell in the past,
do not dream of the future,
concentrate the mind on the present moment.
- The Buddha

If you are depressed you are living in the past.
If you are anxious you are living in the future.
If you are at peace you are living in the present.
- Lao Tzu

I have realized that the past and future are real illusions,
that they exist in the present, which is what there is and all there is.
- Alan Watts

Further reading: Don't Wait - Begin Today

Cherish This Moment

The Futility of Regret

Gratitude for THIS Moment
      

Don't Doubt, Take Action - Now

The most difficult thing is the decision to act,
the rest is merely tenacity.
The fears are paper tigers.
You can do anything you decide to do.
You can act to change and control your life;
and the procedure, the process is its own reward.
- Amelia Earhart

Those who believe they can do something
and those who believe they can't
are both right.
- Henry Ford

The only way to discover the limits of the possible
is to go beyond them into the impossible.
- Arthur C. Clarke

Today's affirmation:
I am unstoppable.

Whether the challenge is reaching the moon, sailing around the world, hitting a home run, acing a job interview, or walking again after a stroke, we can usually accomplish what we believe we can. But once we doubt ourselves, success slips beyond our grasp.

Further reading: The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams

Life is either a daring adventure or nothing

Power of Thought
     

Living Content with Little

Happiness consists not in having much,
but in being content with little.
- Marguerite Gardiner

The greatest wealth is to live content with little.
- Plato

There are nine requisites for contented living:
HEALTH enough to make work a pleasure;
WEALTH enough to support your needs;
STRENGTH enough to battle with difficulties and forsake them;
GRACE enough to confess your sins and overcome them;
PATIENCE enough to toil until some good is accomplished;
CHARITY enough to see some good in your neighbor;
LOVE enough to move you to be useful and helpful to others;
FAITH enough to make real the things of God;
HOPE enough to remove all anxious fears concerning the future.
- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Nothing is as good for the soul as a marshmallow roast.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Keep your eyes open to your mercies.
The man who forgets to be thankful has fallen asleep in life.
- Robert Louis Stevenson

Further reading: Be Thankful. Be Content

A Simple Life

A Life of Abundance

Rejoice with What Is
      

Self-Confidence is the First Requisite

If you have no confidence in self,
you are twice defeated in the race of life.
With confidence, you have won even before you have started.
- Marcus Tullius Cicero

If you don't have confidence, you'll always find a way not to win.
- Carl Lewis

With realization of one's own potential and
self-confidence in one's ability,
one can build a better world.
- Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama

Self-confidence is the first requisite to great undertakings.
- Samuel Johnson

Confidence is half of victory.
- Yiddish Proverb

Believe in yourself. Have faith in your abilities.
Without a humble but reasonable confidence in your own powers
you cannot be successful or happy.
- Norman Vincent Peale

Further reading: Believe In Yourself

Ignore Your Critics

Make Your Dreams Come True

My Wish
        

Defeat as Education

What is defeat? Nothing but education.
Nothing but the first step to something better.
- Wendell Phillips

When you find your path, you must not be afraid.
You need to have sufficient courage to make mistakes.
Disappointment, defeat, and despair are
the tools God uses to show us the way.
- Paulo Coelho

Being defeated is often a temporary condition.
Giving up is what makes it permanent.
- Marilyn vos Savant

The greatest test of courage on earth
is to bear defeat without losing heart.
- Robert Ingersoll

Circumstances don't defeat you -
you defeat yourself when you give up.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Serenity in Times of Crisis

Overcoming Difficulties

Do not rail against life

Life's Storms
      

Self-Care is a Necessary Foundation

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

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

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

Further reading: Be Gentle with Yourself

Respect Yourself

Our Light that Frightens Us

Self-Respect, Not Ego
        

It is Always the Right Time to be Kind

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

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

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

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

Further reading: The Parable of the Good Samaritan

Let Us Be Kind

Pay It Forward - as an Expression of Universal Gratitude
       

Understanding Quiets Fear

Nothing in life is to be feared, it is only to be understood.
Now is the time to understand more, so that we may fear less.
- Marie Curie

Seeds of great discoveries are constantly floating around us,
but they only take root in minds well prepared to receive them.
- Joseph Henry

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

Who never walks save where he sees
men's tracks, makes no discoveries.
- J. G. Holland

Further reading: Choose To Be Fearless

The Darkest Night

Seek the Truth

From Your Own Darkness
      

We Create Our Grandchildren's World

There can be no keener revelation of a society's soul
than the way in which it treats its children.
- Nelson Mandela

The philosophy of the school room in one generation
will be the philosophy of government in the next.
- Abraham Lincoln

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

What kind of world do you want to leave your great-grandchildren?
What can you do today to help create that world?
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Passing the Torch

Honor the Children

Full Measure

Our Grandchildren
   

Have Courage and Leap

Leap and the net will appear.
- John Burroughs

The jump is so frightening between
where I am and where I want to be.
Because of all I may become,
I will close my eyes and leap.
- Mary Anne Radmacher

No one knows what he can do until he tries.
- Publilius Syrus

What you are is God's gift to you:
what you become is your gift to God.
- Anthony Dalla Villa

Here is a test to find whether your mission on earth is finished:
If you're alive, it isn't.
- Richard Bach

Further reading: Faith Plus Action

Serenity in Times of Crisis

Be Unstoppable

Again Tomorrow
     

Friends Both Encourage and Respect You

A friend encourages your dreams and offers advice -
but when you don't follow it,
they still respect and love you.
- Doris Wild Helmering

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

Flatter me, and I may not believe you.
Criticize me, and I may not like you.
Ignore me, and I may not forgive you.
Encourage me, and I will not forget you.
- William Arthur Ward

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.
- Hillary Clinton

Further reading: Give Love and Comfort

A Little Help from My Friends

Acts of Kindness

Offer Comfort
      

You Can't Stop Progress, Nobody Can Stop Progress

Progress is impossible without change,
and those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything.
- George Bernard Shaw

You've gotta find a way to get out of your own way,
so you can progress in life.
- Steve Carlton

The important work of moving the world forward
does not wait to be done by perfect men.
- George Eliot

You can't stop the music, nobody can stop the music.
- Village People

Cheer progress and never try to stop the music. Read more here...

Further reading: New Ideas

Moving Forward

Progress of the Human Mind
        

Take Care of Yourself

Don't forget to love yourself.
- Soren Kierkegaard

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

Be gentle first with yourself.
- Lama Yeshe

First renew your own body, mind and emotions;
be kind, compassionate, and gentle with yourself.
Then use your regenerated strength and commitment
to be of service to the less fortunate.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Affirmation: Today, I will be gentle with myself.

Further reading: Renew Yourself

Feel Good About Yourself

Keep Your Head

Make Time For Yourself

Love Yourself
      

Father's Day 2018

There are two lasting bequests we can give our children: One is roots, the other is wings.
- Hodding Carter

The best inheritance a parent can give his children
is a few minutes of his time each day.
- Orlando A. Battista

Let parents bequeath to their children
not riches, but the spirit of reverence.
- Plato

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

Every parent is at some time the father of the unreturned prodigal,
with nothing to do but keep his house open to hope.
- John Ciardi

You can never really live anyone else's life,
not even your child's.
The influence you exert is through your own life,
and what you've become yourself.
- Eleanor Roosevelt

Nothing you do for a child is ever wasted.
- Garrison Keillor

Further reading: Our Grandchildren's Planet

Feeding the Children

God's Children
     

Your Own Authority

The only sovereign you can allow to rule you is reason.
- Terry Goodkind

No statement should be believed because it is made by an authority.
- Robert A. Heinlein

The ultimate authority must always rest
with the individual's own reason and critical analysis.
- Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama

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

Authority has every reason to fear the skeptic,
for authority can rarely survive in the face of doubt.
- Robert Lindner

Further reading: Re-Examine All You Think You Know

Trust Your Own Advice

Practice Conscious Awareness
     

The Lincoln/Hemingway Test

When I do good, I feel good.
When I do bad, I feel bad.
That's my religion.
- Abraham Lincoln

About morals: I know only that
what is moral is what you feel good after
and what is immoral is what you feel bad after.
- Ernest Hemingway

Needless to say, the Lincoln/Hemingway test for whether an action is moral only applies to people who are fundamentally moral.

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

In matters of conscience,
the law of the majority has no place.
- Mohandas (Mahatma) Gandhi

Only good comes from being honest and true.
Only harm and suffering come from falsehood.
It doesn't always appear that good comes from truth and honesty,
but, in the long run, it does.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Character

Who You Are

Conscience

Intentional Living

Morality
     

Flag Day 2018

And so, my fellow Americans,
ask not what your country can do for you;
ask what you can do for your country.
- John F. Kennedy

Posterity: you will never know how much it has cost
my generation to preserve your freedom.
I hope you will make good use of it.
- John Quincy Adams

We are not afraid to follow truth
wherever it may lead,
nor to tolerate any error
so long as reason is left free to combat it.
- Thomas Jefferson

True patriotism hates injustice in its own land more than anywhere else.
- Clarence Darrow

Dissent is the highest form of patriotism.
- Howard Zinn

Our flag is red, white and blue, but our nation is a rainbow -
red, yellow, brown, black and white - and we're all precious in God's sight.
- Jesse Brown

Patriotism consists not in waving the flag,
but in striving that our country shall be righteous as well as strong.
- James Bryce

Further reading: Independence Day

Presidents' Day

Make a Difference, Vote

Save Only the Best of the Old Ways
      

Love as an Unconditional Gift

Love one another but make not a bond of love.
Let it rather be a moving sea
between the shores of your souls.
- Khalil Gibran

Love is the absence of judgment.
- Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama

The best relationship is one in which
your love for each other
exceeds your need for each other.
- Anonymous

Love without jealousy. Love without need.
Let love be an unconditional gift.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Love Allows Freedom

7 Secrets of Happy Couples

Possession Is Not Love

Celebrating Your Differences
    

Yes, It's Worth the Bother

We hear two voices calling us,
one saying, "Why not?"
and the other, "Why bother?"
- Sydney J. Harris

Nobody made a greater mistake than he who did nothing
because he could do only a little.
- Edmund Burke

We can do no great things,
only small things with great love.
- Mother Teresa 

Righteousness does not speak in the powerful voices blaring from your television.
Righteousness speaks in a small quiet voice from deep within your own soul.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: A Small Quiet Voice

Trust Your Own Advice

Really Listen

Is That All There Is - Peggy Lee
      

Life - a Daring Adventure

Security is mostly a superstition.
It does not exist in nature, nor do the children of men as a whole experience it.
Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure.
Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing.
- Helen Keller

There are no guarantees.
From the viewpoint of fear, none are strong enough.
From the viewpoint of love, none are necessary.
- Emmanuel (Pat Rodegast)

Our only security is our ability to change.
- John Lilly

There is no security on this Earth,
there is only opportunity.
- Douglas MacArthur

Security is not the absence of danger,
but the presence of God,
no matter what the danger.
- Anonymous

Those of true faith don't require guaranteed security.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: All Life is a Risk

Courage to Take Action

Risk a Little

Thrown Out of the Nest
     

Every Compassionate Act

There are no small acts of kindness.
Every compassionate act makes large the world.
- Mary Anne Radmacher

If you can't feed a hundred people, then feed just one.
- Mother Teresa

It's the little things you do
that can make a big difference.
- Bob Proctor

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 it is in giving that we receive.
- St. Francis of Assisi

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: Become Kinder

I Will Fear No Evil

Have Faith that God will do what is Right

The Reality of Money
      

Taking Responsibility

Take your life in your own hands, and what happens?
A terrible thing: no one to blame.
- Erica Jong

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

When you feel worried and depressed,
consciously form a smile on your face and act upbeat
until the happy feeling becomes genuine.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Although the world is full of suffering,
it is full also of the overcoming of it.
- Helen Keller

Further reading: Responsibility, Not Blame

Owner of My Choices

Not the Circumstances, but Your Response
      

All Different, All One

We are all different - and we are all one.
Take time to understand, and to appreciate.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

We have the tendency to condemn what we don't understand.
- Mercedes Ruehl

Condemn none:
if you can stretch out a helping hand, do so.
If you cannot, fold your hands, bless your brothers,
and let them go their own way.
- Swami Vivekananda

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

Whenever we condemn, we cloak the world in pain.
- Hugh Prather

So let's be honest with ourselves and not take ourselves too serious,
and never condemn the other fellow for doing what we are doing every day,
only in a different way.
- Will Rogers

Further reading: See no evil, Hear no evil, Speak no evil

A Different Drummer

Each To Their Own

Respect Others
       

The Impulse to Soar

One can never consent to creep when one feels the impulse to soar.
- Helen Keller

Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions.
Small people always do that, but the really great
make you feel that you, too, can become great.
- Mark Twain

There is an eagle in me that wants to soar,
and there is a hippopotamus in me that wants to wallow in the mud.
- Carl Sandburg

In almost everything that touches our everyday life on earth,
God is pleased when we're pleased.
He wills that we be as free as birds to soar
and sing our maker's praise without anxiety.
- Aiden Wilson Tozer

If we insist on being as sure as is conceivable...
we must be content to creep along the ground,
and never soar.
- John Henry Newman

Why settle for less?
If you do not yet feel your wings spreading,
look for the chains tethering you to your history.
You were born wild and free. What happened?
Are you willing to break free of your past?

Further reading: Spread Your Wings

Life Lived to the Edge

The Edge

Let Your Heart Soar
    

Your Inner Self

The outer conditions of a person's life will always
be found to reflect their inner beliefs.
- James Lane Allen

It is those who have a deep and real inner life
who are best able to deal with the irritating details of outer life.
- Evelyn Underhill

Begin with your own inner peace.
Then use that inner peace
as a platform from which
to approach the outer world
with perspective, understanding, and patience.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

We're so engaged in doing things
to achieve purposes of outer value
that we forget the inner value,
the rapture that is associated
with being alive, is what it is all about.
- Joseph Campbell

Further reading: What Really Matters

Master of My Emotions

Your Attitude is Your Window

Mastering Time

Renewal

Life Really Is Good
      

The Winds of Adversity

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

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

Read more about this at Boldly Sail the Storms of Life

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

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

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

Further reading: Adjust Your Sails

Tested by Storms

Have a Plan
    

Trust Your Heart

All that is real is seen with the heart.
- Vivian Greene

That you may retain your self-respect, it is better
to displease the people by doing what you know is right,
than to temporarily please them by doing what you know is wrong.
- William J. H. Boetcker

Value your own opinion more, and others' opinions less.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

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

Everyone should carefully observe
which way his heart draws him,
and then choose that way with all his strength.
- Hasidic Proverb

To free us from the expectations of others,
to give us back to ourselves -
there lies the great singular power of self-respect.
- Joan Didion

Resilience is about believing in yourself,
and trusting your own wisdom
rather than being swayed by the opinions of others.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Whatever anyone else says or does, their words and their actions are truly about themselves. Don't take it personally when they rant, even if they direct their unhappiness in your direction.

While I appreciate how unpleasant it is to have others making unreasonable demands of you, it may help to remind yourself that it's not personal. Others are often 100% focused on their own issues and their own perceived needs. They project their frustration out into the mirror of life. When they look into that mirror, they think they are seeing your face, but in reality, they are seeing their own emotions.

Remember to love yourself and to take time for yourself.

Today's affirmation:
There is nothing I ever need to have.
There is nothing I ever need to do.
I say NO to the demands of the world.
I say YES to the longings of my own heart.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Your Intuition is Your Guide

At the Center of Your Being

Experts and Authorities

Make Your Own Choices

How to Be Yourself

Personal Boundaries
       

Each Small Generosity Enlarges the World

A Single Generosity Enlarges the World.
- Mary Anne Radmacher

Spread love everywhere you go.
Let no one ever come to you without leaving happier.
- Mother Teresa


Further reading: True Measure of a Successful Life

Empathy

Lighting the Way

Pay It Forward
     

Criticism Does Not Foster Change

We cannot change anything until we accept it.
Condemnation does not liberate, it oppresses.
- Carl Jung

Any fool can criticize, condemn and complain,
and most fools do.
- Benjamin Franklin

Never ascribe to malice that which is
adequately explained by incompetence.
- Napoleon

When they are disappointed, most people react by assigning blame,
and finding someone to criticize.
What if we accepted that our disappointments
are seldom the result of malice on the part of anyone,
and worked together to make life better for all.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

The curious paradox is that when I accept myself just as I am,
then I can change.
- Carl Rogers

Further reading: Restraint

Condemn None

Stand Beyond Criticism

Judge Not
      

Laying a Strong Foundation

The loftier the building, the deeper must the foundation be laid.
- Thomas Kempis

Education is the foundation upon which we build our future.
- Christine Gregoire

A successful man is one who can lay a firm foundation
with the bricks others have thrown at him.
- David Brinkley

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

If we would build on a sure foundation in friendship,
we must love our friend for their sakes
rather than for our own.
- Charlotte Bronte

It is not the beauty of a building you should look at;
it is the construction of the foundation that will stand the test of time.
- David Allan Coe

Further reading: Not By Our Bootstraps

Honoring Our Roots

Feeling Blessed

Pay It Forward