Our Vision is Always Biased by What We Expect or Fear to See

Choose the World You See,
and See the World You Choose.
You have a choice
about the perspective you take on life.
See tragedy, and the world is tragic -
see beauty, and the world is beautiful.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

People seem not to see that
their opinion of the world
is also a confession of character.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

What we see depends mainly on what we look for.
- John Lubbock

It all depends on how we look at things,
and not how they are in themselves.
- Carl Jung

Our Vision is Always Biased by What We Expect or Fear to See.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: What You See

Your Attitude is Your Window

What We Perceive
      

Your Attitude Defines Your Life

Change your thoughts and you change your world.
- Norman Vincent Peale

The greatest discovery of any generation
is that a human being
can alter his life by
altering his attitude
- William James

Attitude is Everything.
- Charles Swindoll

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

Whatever happens to you, your attitude determines the quality of your life.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: How To Be Happy In Life

Playing the Cards You Hold

Choose to be Cheerful

What One Emphasizes

Choosing a Joyful Life
    

Just Give A Little More Than You Take, Each Day

The true meaning of life is to plant trees,
under whose shade you do not expect to sit.
- Nelson Henderson

The ultimate test of a man's conscience
may be his willingness to sacrifice something today
for future generations whose words of thanks will not be heard.
- Gaylord Nelson

To leave the world a bit better ...
to know that one life has breathed easier because you have lived.
This is to have succeeded.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

One thing I know: the only ones among you
who will be really happy are those
who will have sought and found how to serve.
- Albert Schweitzer

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

It's not that hard to be a good person... 
Just give a little more than you take - each day.
Do a little something for someone less fortunate.
Do a little something for future generations yet unborn.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Pay It Forward - as an Expression of Universal Gratitude

Your Life Purpose

Your Legacy - Making a Difference

A man's good name is his best monument
    

You Must Create Empty Space to Allow Creativity

The monotony and solitude of a quiet life
stimulates the creative mind.
- Albert Einstein

Make an empty space in any corner of your mind,
and creativity will instantly fill it.
- Dee Hock

The uncreative mind can spot wrong answers,
but it takes a very creative mind to spot wrong questions.
- Antony Jay

Creativity has more to do with the elimination of the
inessential than with inventing something new.
- Helmut Jahn

Almost always, the creative dedicated minority
has made the world better.
- Martin Luther King, Jr.

Happiness lies in the joy of achievement
and the thrill of creative effort.
- Franklin D. Roosevelt

To live a creative life
we must lose our fear of being wrong.
- Joseph Chilton Pearce

May your mind whirl joyful cartwheels of creativity.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Seek Your Own Wisdom

Scientific Thinking

Welcome Inquiry, Discovery, and New Vistas

Discovery through New Eyes
        

Seek Win-Win Solutions

When we seek to discover the best in others,
we somehow bring out the best in ourselves.
- William Arthur Ward

Most of us think about succeeding in terms of someone else failing --
that is, if I win, you lose; or if you win, I lose.
Life becomes a zero-sum game.
... [In contrast,] Win-win sees life as a cooperative arena, not a competitive one.
Win-win is a frame of mind and heart that constantly seeks
mutual benefit in all human interactions.
Win-win means agreements or solutions are mutually beneficial and satisfying.
- Stephen R. Covey


Your mother really did know the secret to a better world:
"Play nicely together. Don't fight."

Today's affirmation:
I feel unity with Spirit and with all that is.
My life is richer for sharing my being with all those I meet.
Each experience, however it appears at the time,
highlights and strengthens the fabric of my life.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Helping Others

Our Shared Humanity

A Shared Dream

Caring for Others
      

Pay Attention and Look Closely

The moment one gives close attention to any thing, even a blade of grass,
it becomes a mysterious, awesome, indescribably magnificent world in itself.
- Henry Miller

The more you look, the more you see.
- Robert M. Pirsig

Reason, observation, and experience;
the holy trinity of science.
- Robert Green Ingersoll

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

Look closely... See with new eyes...
Don't just pass by what is familiar without a thought.
Pay attention and look closely.
There is beauty - there is discovery -
there in a whole new world hiding
beneath the face of the familiar.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Stay Alert for Opportunities

Have Eyes for Beauty

Why Are You Going?
      

Blame is a Cop Out

A man can fail many times,
but he isn't a failure until
he begins to blame somebody else.
- John Burroughs

No one "does it to you."
You do it to yourself through other people.
- Anonymous

When you blame others, you give up your power to change.
- Robert Anthony

Those who are dedicated to a life of wisdom
understand that the impulse to blame
something or someone is foolishness,
that there is nothing to be gained in blaming,
whether it be others or oneself.
- Epictetus

It is an act of great Courage to forsake all Blame.
Take responsibility for your whole life -
regardless of circumstances.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: No Fault Living

Criticism and Complaint

Judge Not


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

Peace and Joy Come Only From Within

'Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair!'
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare,
The lone and level sands stretch far away.
- Percy Bysshe Shelley

The works of man do not endure. Ancient Egypt thrived for thousands of years before its civilization was overthrown. America, at less than 300 years, isn't even out of diapers. Security and happiness cannot come from physical things, whether cars, homes, or seemingly indestructible monuments of civilization. Lasting joy can only come from within and from connection with Spirit.

When you find peace within yourself,
you become the kind of person who can live at peace with others.
- Peace Pilgrim

It is important to expect nothing,
to take every experience,
including the negative ones,
as merely steps on the path,
and to proceed.
- Ram Dass

Peace comes from within.
Do not seek it without.
- The Buddha

Further reading: Seeds of Faith

Choosing Your Purpose

Being at Peace
      

Think for Yourself

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

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

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

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

It is easy in the world to live after the world's opinions;
it is easy in solitude to live after your own;
but the great man is he who in the midst of the crowd
keeps with perfect sweetness the independence of solitude
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

Attempting to "fit in" is not a worthy objective.
There is no point in feeling sad or upset when your plans, your ideas,
or even your fundamental nature do not "fit in" with the majority view.

Be the courageous hero and stay committed to your greatest ideas and ideals,
however they are received by those around you.

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

Be Yourself

Appreciate Yourself

Think for Yourself

Believe and Take Action
     

Forget Your Separateness

We build too many walls and not enough bridges.
- Isaac Newton

The walls we build around us
to keep sadness out
also keep out the joy.
- Jim Rohn

Love recognizes no barriers.
It jumps hurdles, leaps fences, penetrates walls
to arrive at its destination full of hope.
- Maya Angelou

Looking at a sunset, just for a second
you forget your separateness:
you are the sunset.
That is the moment when you feel the beauty of it.
But the moment you say that it is a beautiful sunset,
you are no longer feeling it;
you have come back to your separate,
enclosed entity of the ego.
Now the mind is speaking.
- Osho

Further reading: Living from Your Heart

Another Door

Rattlesnake of the Mind

Progress
     

Beyond Yourself

The full measure of a man is
not to be found in the man himself,
but in the colors and textures that
come alive in others because of him.
- Albert Schweitzer

If you can give your child only one gift, let it be enthusiasm.
- Bruce Barton

Grown men can learn from very little children
for the hearts of little children are pure.
Therefore, the Great Spirit may show to them
many things which older people miss.
- Black Elk

If a child lives with criticism,
he learns to condemn.
...
If a child lives with fear,
he learns to be apprehensive.
...
If a child lives with encouragement,
he learns to be confident.
...
If a child lives with acceptance,
he learns to love.
- Dorothy Law Nolte

Further reading: Fully Living Your God-Given Life

Legacy to Future Generations

Honor Both Tradition and Change

What We Contribute Gives Meaning
      

Our Lives are Determined by Our Attitudes

We can always choose to perceive things differently.
You can focus on what's wrong in your life,
or you can focus on what's right.
- Marianne Williamson

We cannot choose our external circumstances,
but we can always choose how to respond to them.
- Epictetus

Life is 10% what happens to me and 90% how I react to it.
- Charles R. Swindoll

Could we change our attitude,
we should not only see life differently,
but life itself would be different.
- Katherine Mansfield

It isn't what you have, or who you are, or where you are,
or what you are doing that makes you happy or unhappy.
It is what you think about.
- Dale Carnegie

Today's affirmation:
I choose to create joy in my life.
Whatever my external circumstances,
I choose to see all of life through joyful eyes.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: You are the Window

Beyond the Cloud

Your attitude determines the quality of your life
      

Stay Open to Beauty

See beauty in unexpected places.
- Mary Anne Radmacher

Life is full of beauty. Notice it.
Notice the bumble bee, the small child,
and the smiling faces.
Smell the rain, and feel the wind.
Live your life to the fullest potential,
and fight for your dreams.
- Ashley Smith

Anyone who keeps the ability to see beauty never grows old.
- Franz Kafka  

Pause to appreciate the beauty around you.
Whether rainbow or butterfly, mountain or tree, painting or poem -
whether crafted by nature or by a human hand -
beauty adds a magical element to life that surpasses logic and science.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: What You See

Inner Beauty

Your Point of View

Joy at Home
    

Don't Try to Oppose Reality

Dwell in stillness.
Observe without reacting and without judging.
- Jon Kabat-Zinn

When we stop opposing reality, action becomes simple, fluid, kind, and fearless.
- Byron Katie

 Be still and know who you are.
- Kirtana

Life is simple.
Everything happens for you, not to you.
Everything happens at exactly the right moment, neither too soon nor too late.
You don't have to like it... it's just easier if you do.
- Byron Katie

Give yourself permission to allow this moment to be exactly as it is,
and allow yourself to be exactly as you are.
- Jon Kabat-Zinn

Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored.
- Aldous Huxley

You're either attaching to your thoughts or you're inquiring. There is no other choice.
- Byron Katie

Further reading: Byron Katie - No one can give you freedom but you

Cultivate Awareness

Breath by Breath

Live in the Present

Cherish This Moment

Cease Striving
   

Offer Comfort

I've learned that people will forget what you said,
people will forget what you did,
but people will never forget how you made them feel.
- Maya Angelou

Cure sometimes, treat often, comfort always.
- Hippocrates

There is nothing better than the encouragement of a good friend.
- Katharine Butler Hathaway

“Friendship," said Christopher Robin, "is a very comforting thing to have.”
- A. A. Milne

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

The best comfort I could offer
was to just let her tell her story.
- Mary Anne Radmacher

Generally, your greatest service to someone
in their time of trouble, sorrow, or confusion, is your comfort.
Take the time to listen to their troubles and concerns
with patience, kindness, and empathy,
but without offering unsolicited advice or suggestions.
Your kindly hand on their shoulder, supportive hug, and patient listening
are often the greatest gifts you can offer.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: True Measure of a Successful Life

Giving Love and Comfort

This is my wish for you...

Encourage Others
      

Never Abandon Your Enthusiasm

None are so old as those who have outlived enthusiasm.
- Henry David Thoreau

Don't die with your music still inside you.
Listen to your intuitive inner voice
and find what passion stirs your soul.
- Wayne Dyer

Apathy can be overcome by enthusiasm.
- Arnold J. Toynbee

The success of a project is best predicted
by the enthusiasm of its participants.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Years wrinkle the skin, but to give up enthusiasm wrinkles the soul.
- Douglas MacArthur

Further reading: Live Your Greatest Life

Take Charge of Your Life

Think Big, Act Big

Your Intuition is Your Guide
       

Seek Truth, Without Preexisting Opinion

The attitude of faith is to let go,
and become open to truth, whatever it might turn out to be.
- Alan Watts

We seek opinions that are likely to
support what we want to be true.
- Thomas Gilovich

Man cannot discover new oceans
unless he has the courage
to lose sight of the shore.
- Lord Chesterfield

It is never too late to give up our prejudices.
- Henry David Thoreau

Have Faith!
Listen to the Voice of God,
rather than to the people who say they know what God wants you to do.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Don't Struggle

Perspective on Tradition: An Open Mind

This God Called Money

Faith Before Dawn
      

Even Extreme Circumstances...

The answer to circumstances is choosing a positive response,
and the most positive choice is to be of service.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

There are no hopeless situations; there are only men
who have grown hopeless about them.
- Clare Boothe Luce

We who lived in concentration camps can remember the men
who walked through the huts comforting others,
giving away their last piece of bread...
They offer sufficient proof that everything
can be taken from a man but one thing:
to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances,
to choose one's own way.
- Viktor E. Frankl

When you say a situation or a person is hopeless,
you are slamming the door in the face of God.
- Charles L. Allen

Labeling yourself a "victim" prevents you from healing.
Don't let yesterday's troubles destroy today and tomorrow.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: When You Have Been Wronged

Self Pity

You are not a victim - article by Sheri Rosenthal
      

Have the Courage to be a Discoverer and an Adventurer

Courage is the power to let go of the familiar.
- Raymond Lindquist

Choose what lies in the shadows to be a matter
for discovery and adventure, rather than fear.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Refuse to be average.
Let your heart soar as high as it will.
- Aiden Wilson Tozer

Today's affirmation:
I release the familiar that I may better discover my inspiring future.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Curious - Adventurous

Beyond Your Comfort Zone

Understand More, Fear Less

Impulse to Soar
    

The Ultimate Test

The ultimate test of a man's conscience
may be his willingness to sacrifice something today
for future generations whose words of thanks will not be heard.
- Gaylord Nelson

Let us be protectors of creation,
protectors of God’s plan inscribed in nature,
protectors of one another, and of the environment.
- Pope Francis

The love of money is the root of all evil:
which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith,
and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.
But thou, O man of God, flee these things;
and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness.
- Timothy 6:10-11

Jesus preached more and taught more
about helping the poor and the sick and the hungry
than he did about heaven and hell.
Shouldn't that tell us something?
- John Grisham

Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.
- Matthew 25:40

Further reading: The Least Of These

Our Children's Earth

Unity with Spirit and All Creation

Everything is God
      

We Create Our Own Joy or Our Own Sorrow

It is not our circumstances
that create our discontent or contentment.
It is us.
- Vivian Greene

When we cannot find contentment in ourselves, it is useless to seek it elsewhere.
- Francois de La Rochefoucauld

True humility is contentment.
- Henri Frederic Amiel

Fortify yourself with contentment,
for it is an impregnable fortress.
- Epictetus

We Create Our Own Joy or Our Own Sorrow.
-Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: True Riches

Rejoice

Living Content

A Life of Abundance
      

An Inspiring Leader

If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more,
do more and become more, you are a leader.
- John Quincy Adams

A leader is not one who says, "Follow me."
A leader is one who says, "I'll go first."
- Neale Donald Walsch

A genuine leader is not a searcher for consensus but a molder of consensus.
- Martin Luther King, Jr.

Leaders are those who empower others.
- Bill Gates

It is amazing how much you can accomplish
when it doesn't matter who gets the credit.
- Anonymous

I cannot trust a man to control others who cannot control himself.
- Robert E. Lee

Your example is far more influential and inspiring
than any words of instruction, or threats,
or even words of encouragement.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Leading by Example

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

Stay adaptable, stay Joyful

How to Become a Leader

Choose Your Habits, Choose Your Life
     

You Can Never "Set People Right"

The true secret of giving advice is,
after you have honestly given it,
to be perfectly indifferent whether it is taken or not,
and never persist in trying to set people right.
- Henry Ward Beecher

It is an easy thing for one whose foot is on the outside
of calamity to give advice and to rebuke the sufferer.
- Aeschylus

We cause ourselves untold misery whenever we believe
others to be imperfect and try to change them.
You have no ability whatsoever to change anyone other than yourself.
You can only cause yourself great suffering if you try.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Advice is seldom welcome,
and those who "need" it the most, like it the least.
- Lord Chesterfield

Unsolicited Advice Is Always Meddling.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie
Read my thoughts on meddling in the affairs of others.

Further reading: The Problem with Advice

The #1 Secret of Great Relationships

Live and Let Live

Don't Take It Personally
      

All Men are Brothers

All wars are civil wars, because all men are brothers.
- Francois Fenelon

If thy brother wrongs thee,
remember not so much his wrong-doing,
but more than ever that he is thy brother.
- Epictetus

He who experiences the unity of life
sees his own Self in all beings,
and all beings in his own Self.
- The Buddha

Forgive Your Brother from Your Heart.
- Matthew 18:21-22

Today's affirmation:
All people are my heart-felt brothers and sisters.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Respect Others

Perspective on Diversity

Condemn None

The World is My Family

One World

The Web of Life
      

Be a Role Model

Being a role model is the most powerful form of educating.
Youngsters need good models more than they need critics.
It's one of a parent's greatest responsibilities and opportunities.
- John Wooden

Pull the string, and it will follow wherever you wish.
Push it, and it will go nowhere at all.
- Dwight D. Eisenhower

Example is not the main thing in influencing others.
It is the only thing.
- Albert Schweitzer

If you want others to follow your example,
don't criticize or cajole others,
but rather live your own life
in a manner that convincingly demonstrates
both the virtue and the success
of your way of life.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Live a life you hope your children will emulate

Inspire Others

The Nature of Education

Be a Leader

How We Learn
      

Empowered by Our Difficulties

Only when life is difficult, are we challenged to become our greatest selves.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Fall seven times, stand up eight.
- Japanese Proverb

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

All things at first appear difficult.
- Chinese proverb

Difficulties show men what they are.
In case of any difficulty,
remember that God has pitted you
against a rough antagonist
that you may be a conqueror,
and this cannot be without toil.
- Epictetus

Further reading: Difficulties Offer Opportunities

Why is This Happening?

Choosing to be Positive

Beyond Failure

Integrity is Everything

If you don't have integrity, you have nothing.
You can't buy it.
You can have all the money in the world,
but if you are not a moral and ethical person,
you really have nothing.
- Henry Kravis

Integrity is living the truth you know.
- Rinaldo S. Brutoco

Have the courage to say no.
Have the courage to face the truth.
Do the right thing because it is right.
These are the magic keys to living your life with integrity.
- W. Clement Stone

If humanity does not opt for integrity we are through completely.
It is absolutely touch and go.
Each one of us could make the difference.
- R. Buckminster Fuller

Take responsibility for your whole life -
regardless of circumstances.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Live with Integrity

Your Words

Who You Are

Your Promises
       

Independence Day 2018

We hold these truths to be self-evident:
that all men are created equal,
that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights,
among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
- Thomas Jefferson (third President of the United States)
[Declaration of Independence, and inscribed in the Jefferson Memorial]

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

We cannot defend freedom abroad by deserting it at home.
- Edward R. Murrow

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

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

Further reading: The Freedom of Others

No Need to Conform

Uncharted Territory
      

Live Into Your Dreams

So many of our dreams at first seem impossible,
then they seem improbable, and then,
when we summon the will,
they soon become inevitable.
- Christopher Reeve

Do not lose hold of your dreams or aspirations.
For if you do, you may still exist but you have ceased to live.
- Henry David Thoreau

We come this way but once.
We can either tiptoe through life
and hope we get to death without being badly bruised
or we can live a full, complete life achieving
our goals and realizing our wildest dreams.
- Bob Proctor

Winners Dream Big Dreams.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Hold Fast to Your Dreams

Boldly Sail the Storms of Life

Don’t Quit

What You Become
       

Gratitiude, a Prime Value

When a person doesn't have gratitude,
something is missing in his or her humanity.
A person can almost be defined by
his or her attitude toward gratitude.
- Elie Wiesel

An ungrateful man is like a hog under a tree eating acorns,
but never looking up to see where they come from.
- Timothy Dexter

Gratitude and greed are directly opposite states of human existence.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Humility: a Prime Virtue

Gleaning

Gratitude for the Journey
      

Compassion Without Limits

If we have no peace,
it is because we have forgotten
that we belong to each other.
- Mother Teresa

I wept because I had no shoes until I met a man who had no feet.
- old Persian proverb

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

Let today be a day of acceptance, compassion, and understanding.
Let us feel our bond of humanity with each of our planet's six billion souls.
Put aside color, geography, wealth, education, political and religious beliefs,
and feel the throb of each human heart in your heart.
Never let your compassionate connection with all creation
be limited by your politics, your language, or your traditions.
Know that Spirit transcends all cultural differences and embraces all creation.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Today's Affirmation: I choose acceptance and compassion toward all humanity.

Further reading: Feed Just One

The Good Samaritan

How Helping Others Helps You

The Dog Who Came to Dinner (an old parable retold)