Never Lose Your Curiosity

Curiosity is one of the great secrets of happiness.
- Bryant H. McGill

Be curious, not judgmental.
- Walt Whitman

The important thing is not to stop questioning.
Curiosity has its own reason for existing.
- Albert Einstein

Disinterested intellectual curiosity is the life blood of real civilization.
- G. M. Trevelyan

Being curious is a quality of youthful minds.
Being judgmental is a quality of calcified minds.
Welcome inquiry, discovery, and new vistas
with an open heart and an open mind.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Asking Better Questions

Power of Imagination

Curious - Adventurous

A Fire to be Kindled
        

Life Is A Succession Of Hard Lessons

The lessons of the past provide the path to the future.
- Anonymous

Life is a succession of lessons which must be lived to be understood.
- Helen Keller

Education is what survives when what has been learned has been forgotten.
- B.F. Skinner

The difference between school and life?
In school, you're taught a lesson and then given a test.
In life, you're given a test that teaches you a lesson.
- Tom Bodett

We should not look back unless it is to derive useful lessons from past errors,
and for the purpose of profiting by dearly bought experience.
- George Washington

Never stop learning. Look for further education in all of life.

Further reading: Joy Blooms Where Minds and Hearts are Open

Question Your Questions

The Book of Life: Mystery and Riddle

Maybe So, Maybe Not. - Ancient Taoist Proverb

Perspective on Tradition: An Open Mind
      

Fear Grows in Darkness

Everything that irritates us about others
can lead us to an understanding of ourselves.
- Carl Jung

Fear grows in darkness;
if you think there's a bogeyman around,
turn on the light.
- Dorothy Thompson

Knowing others is intelligence;
knowing yourself is true wisdom.
Mastering others is strength;
mastering yourself is true power.
- Lao Tzu

Knowing your own darkness is the best method
for dealing with the darknesses of other people.
- Carl Jung


Further reading: Categorizing People

Prejudice

Driving Out Darkness
     

Appreciate Our Beautiful World

When we contemplate the whole globe as one great dewdrop,
striped and dotted with continents and islands,
flying through space with other stars
all singing and shining together as one,
the whole universe appears as an infinite storm of beauty.
- John Muir

The massive bulk of the earth does indeed shrink
to insignificance in comparison with the size of the heavens.
- Nicolaus Copernicus

For small creatures such as we
the vastness is bearable only through love.
- Carl Sagan

Take time today to appreciate beauty -
natural beauty, art, people.
Slow down, breathe deeply, smile.
It's a beautiful world.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Our Grandchildren's Planet

Unity with Spirit and All Creation

Feel Your Connection With the Infinite - a Meditation

Life: Mystery and Riddle
      

Don't Treat Time Like an Enemy

Who forces time is pushed back by time;
who yields to time finds time on his side.
- The Talmud

Time, like life itself, has no inherent meaning.
We give our own meaning to time as to life.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

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

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

You will never find time for anything.
If you want time you must make it.
- Charles Buxton

We must use time creatively.
- Martin Luther King, Jr.

Time stays long enough for anyone who will use it.
- Leonardo da Vinci

Don't fight against time.
Develop a comfort and friendship with time.
Time enjoyed is never time wasted.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Today's affirmation: Time is my friend.

Further reading: Master of Patience Make

Your Relationship with Time

Everything Happens In Its Own Time

Time For Yourself

Your To-Do List
        

Healing Hands

Anyone who has two shirts should share with the one who has none,
and anyone who has food should do the same.
- Luke 3:11

The most eloquent prayer is the prayer through hands that heal and bless.
- Billy Graham

What power there is in our service
when our actions line up with our mission, skills and joy.
– Mary Anne Radmacher

The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.
- Mohandas (Mahatma) Gandhi

Further reading: Serve Others

Help the Less Fortunate

The Power of Generosity

We Belong to Each Other
    

Re-examine All That You Have Been Told

Know thyself, and thou shalt know the Universe and God.
- Pythagoras

You are a product of your environment.
So choose the environment that will best develop you toward your objective.
Analyze your life in terms of its environment.
Are the things around you helping you toward success -
or are they holding you back?
- W. Clement Stone

The unexamined life is not worth living.
- Socrates

We need quiet time to examine our lives openly and honestly -
spending quiet time alone gives your mind an opportunity
to renew itself and create order.
- Susan Taylor

Re-examine all that you have been told...
dismiss that which insults your soul.
- Walt Whitman

To know your ruling passion, examine your castles in the air.
- Richard Whately

Further reading: What Is Success?

What You Become

A Truly Successful Life

To Live, Not Merely To Exist
    

Relish Small Pleasures

Think big thoughts but relish small pleasures.
- H. Jackson Brown, Jr.

The simplification of life is one of the steps to inner peace.
A persistent simplification will create an inner and outer well-being
that places harmony in one's life.
- Peace Pilgrim

Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength;
loving someone deeply gives you courage.
- Lao Tzu

To love. To be loved.
To never forget your own insignificance.
To never get used to the unspeakable violence
and the vulgar disparity of life around you.
To seek joy in the saddest places.
To pursue beauty to its lair.
To never simplify what is complicated
or complicate what is simple.
To respect strength, never power.
Above all, to watch. To try to understand.
To never look away. And never, never, to forget.
- Arundhati Roy

Further reading:  Live Gently

Compassion, Kindness, Humility

Beyond Understanding

Stand Rapt in Awe
      

Thanksgiving Day 2018

In a world where so many are hungry,
may we eat this food with humble hearts;
in a world where so many are lonely,
May we share this friendship with joyful hearts.
- Anonymous

As we join hands in fellowship
around this bountiful table,
we give thanks for the blessings of this food
and the love of these friends
as a symbol of our gratitude
for all the manifold blessings of this life.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

For food that stays our hunger,
For rest that brings us ease,
For homes where memories linger,
We give our thanks for these.
- Anonymous

The food which we are about to eat
Is Earth, Water, and Sun, compounded
through the alchemy of many plants.
Therefore Earth, Water and Sun will
become part of us.
This food is also the fruit of the labor of
many. We are grateful for it.
May it give us strength, health, joy.
And may it increase our love.
- Unitarian Blessing

We receive this food in gratitude to all beings
Who have helped to bring it to our table,
And vow to respond in turn to those in need
With wisdom and compassion.
- Buddhist Blessing

Further reading: My Thoughts on Thanksgiving

Zero-Based Gratitude

Thankful and Content

Giving Thanks for the Commonplace

Opportunity for Daily Thanksgiving
    

Have Gratitude For The Simple Things

Appreciate again and again, freshly and naively,
the basic goods of life, with awe,
pleasure, wonder and even ecstasy,
however stale these experiences may have become to others.
- Abraham Maslow

Abundance is not something we acquire. It is something we tune into.
- Wayne W. Dyer

Our journey into consciousness of wealth begins with the realization
that we have already arrived!
- Michael Bernard Beckwith

A Table Grace of Thanksgiving:
We gather today in gratitude for the bounty of the land,
the joyful company around this table,
and all the other blessings of this life.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: A List of Gratitudes - a Thanksgiving

Let Each Day be a Thanksgiving

Thank You God

Gratitude: Virtue and Joy
    

Never Stop Learning

Intellectual growth should commence at birth
and cease only at death.
- Albert Einstein

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

Education is not the filling of a pail,
but the lighting of a fire.
- William Butler Yeats

The mind is not a vessel to be filled,
but a fire to be kindled.
- Plutarch

Further reading: Lifelong Learning

Open Minds

Knowledge is Soon Changed

Reason
    

More Than Just Surviving

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

"Just living is not enough," said the butterfly,
"one must have sunshine, freedom and a little flower."
- Hans Christian Andersen

How much do you engage yourself in what's truly real
and important in life? That's the individual question.
- Ted Danson

Today's affirmation:
I live every moment, and I live joyfully.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Live Every Moment, Joyfully

Life in Bold Colors

Living Life Without Fear

Enjoy Life
    

Faith That Stands On Authority Is Not Faith

Faith is not the belief that God will do what you want.
It is the belief that God will do what is right.
- Max Lucado

To know a person's religion
we need not listen to his profession of faith
but must find his brand of intolerance.
- Eric Hoffer

What does it profit, my brethren,
if someone says he has faith but does not have works?
Can faith save him?
- James 2:14

The faith that stands on authority is not faith.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

A person who is fanatic in matters of religion,
and clings to certain ideas about the nature of God and the universe,
becomes a person who has no faith at all.
- Alan Watts

I don't doubt God. I have firm faith absolutely in God.
It's religion I'm doubting.
- Bono
(Bono is deeply influenced by the Northern Ireland "Troubles," the 1968-1998 civil war
between Protestant Christians and Catholic Christians in which thousands were killed.)

Nothing is so firmly believed as what is least known.
- Michel de Montaigne

Trust in God's goodness.
Be wary of what humans do in God's name.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Thank You Prayer

Know that You have been Blessed

Heaven on Earth

Where there is Great Love
    

We Can Never Understand Our World, But We Can Still Enjoy It

The world is incomprehensible.
We won't ever understand it;
we won't ever unravel its secrets.
Thus we must treat the world as it is:
a sheer mystery.
- Carlos Castaneda

Uncertainty that comes from knowledge
(knowing what you don't know)
is different from uncertainty coming from ignorance.
- Isaac Asimov

God is not what you imagine,
or what you think you understand.
If you understand you have failed.
- Saint Augustine

As soon as man does not take his existence for granted,
but beholds it as something
unfathomably mysterious, thought begins.
- Albert Schweitzer

Be thankful that life is a mystery.
There is so much we can never know.
Breathe deeply and relax into the not-knowing.
There is much that we do not have to know in order to live joyfully.
We Can Never Understand Our World, But We Can Still Enjoy It.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Cherish Mystery

Life: Mystery and Riddle

Pause to Wonder

Wonder and Mystery
    

There Is Peace In A Life Of Constant Gratitude

There Is Peace In A Life Of Constant Gratitude.
Have Gratitude for the Smallest Blessings,
for the crust of bread and the cool drink of water.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

The struggle ends when the gratitude begins.
- Neale Donald Walsch

The way to happiness is what I call Zero-Based Gratitude.
Each day be happy and grateful for what you have,
independent of yesterday and of other people.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Appreciation is the highest form of prayer,
for it acknowledges the presence of good
wherever you shine the light of your thankful thoughts.
- Alan Cohen

Today's affirmation:
I give thanks for all of life.
I Find Peace in Gratitude.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Give Thanks for the Commonplace

Appreciate Your Blessings

Praise and Celebrate Your Life

Be Grateful, and Pay It Forward

Sometimes our light goes out but
is blown into flame by another human being.
Each of us owes deepest thanks
to those who have rekindled this light.
- Albert Schweitzer

TODAY, consider performing an act-of-kindness for someone who can never repay you.

Is there someone who will be alone on Thanksgiving unless you share your table with them?

The moment you become miserly you are closed
to the basic phenomenon of life: expansion, sharing.
The moment you start clinging to things,
you have missed the target.
Because things are not the target,
you, your innermost being, is the target -
not a beautiful house, but a beautiful you;
not much money, but a rich you;
not many things, but an open being,
available to millions of things.
- Osho

The debt of gratitude we owe our mother and father
goes forward, not backward.
What we owe our parents is the bill presented to us by our children.
- Nancy Friday

Pay It Forward.
Gift future generations in proportion to your gratitude.
The nature of life is that we pay forward
our biological creation and nurture.
Our parents gift us with life and nurture,
and we gift our children with life and nurture.
While this much is essential to continued human existence,
choose to take "pay it forward" farther - much farther.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Each of us has been generously gifted by parents, teachers, mentors, and others we can never repay. So, in gratitude for what we have received, it is now our turn to generously gift the children, the up-and-coming, and the down-and-out -- with no expectation that they can ever repay us - and with the hope that they will, in turn, pay-forward to another generation.

Further reading: True Measure of a Successful Life

Universal Kindness and Compassion

Opportunity for Daily Thanksgiving

Pay It Forward - as an Expression of Universal Gratitude
    

The Blessings of Sharing Your Heart

Live your life from your heart.
Share from your heart.
And your story will touch and heal people's souls.
- Melody Beattie

Share your heart as deeply as you can reach.
- Mary Anne Radmacher

Love cures people - both the ones who give it
and the ones who receive it.
- Karl A. Menninger

I have found that among its other benefits,
giving liberates the soul of the giver.
- Maya Angelou

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

There never was any heart truly great and generous,
that was not also tender and compassionate.
- Robert Frost

It costs you nothing to make another happy -
and you gain your true self through the act of spreading joy.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Be Proactive inYour Love

Be Tender

What Does Love Look Like?
       

Far From The Madding Crowd's Ignoble Strife

Let today be a day to spend time alone in nature.
Take a walk as far from the hustle and bustle of society as you can.
If you can, walk near trees or water.

If a person walks in the woods and listens carefully,
he can learn more than what is in books,
for they speak with the voice of God.
- George Washington Carver

An early-morning walk is a blessing for the whole day.
- Henry David Thoreau

There is sanctuary in being alone with nature.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Far from the madding crowd's ignoble strife...
- Thomas Gray

Further reading: Renew Yourself

Ten Little Tips to Feel Happier Right Now

What To Do When Your Whole World Is Falling Apart?
    

Moving On is Not a Failure, it's Progress

Letting go doesn't mean giving up... it means moving on.
- Anonymous

We have to let go of all blame, all attacking, all judging,
to free our inner selves to attract what we say we want.
- Joe Vitale

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

A big part of letting go is recognizing when it is time
to stay in a situation and when it is time to move on.
- Darren L. Johnson

Moving On is Not a Failure, it's Progress.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Forgiveness Releases the Past

What's Done is Done

Release the Struggle

Secrets For Getting Un-Stuck

How to Move On and Let Go
   

Veterans Day 2018

To All Veterans: Thank You For Your Service To Your Country.

Duty, Honor, Country.
Those three hallowed words reverently dictate what you ought to be,
what you can be, what you will be.
- Douglas MacArthur

Our lives are to be used and thus to be lived as fully as possible,
and truly it seems that we are never so alive as when
we concern ourselves with other people.
- Harry Chapin

War settles nothing.
- Dwight D. Eisenhower

Pitiful is the person who is afraid of taking risks.
Perhaps this person will never be disappointed or disillusioned;
perhaps she won't suffer the way people do when they have a dream to follow.
But when the person looks back - and at some point everyone look back -
she will hear her heart, saying,
"What have you done with the miracles that God planted in your days?
What have you done with the talents God bestowed on you?"
- Paulo Coelho

If we take the generally accepted definition of bravery
as a quality which knows no fear, I have never seen a brave man.
All men are frightened. The more intelligent they are,
the more they are frightened.
- George S. Patton

Disarmament, with mutual honor and confidence,
is a continuing imperative.
- Dwight D. Eisenhower

The soldier above all others prays for peace,
for it is the soldier who must suffer and bear the
deepest wounds and scars of war.
- Douglas MacArthur

Further reading: Honorable Paths to Noble Goals 

Stop Trying to Grasp at "Security"

Watch What You Pray For 
      

No Peace Without Forgiveness

Forgiveness is not always easy.
At times, it feels more painful
than the wound we suffered,
to forgive the one that inflicted it.
And yet, there is no peace without forgiveness.
- Marianne Williamson

Forgiveness means letting go of the hope for a better past.
- Lama Surya Das

Forgiveness ... is the finishing of old business
that allows us to experience the present,
free of contamination from the past.
- Joan Borysenko

The remedy for wrongs is to forget them.
- Publilius Syrus

 Forgive those who have injured you -
not because they deserve your forgiveness,
but because you can never be happy until
you release your anger and grant forgiveness.
Forgiving is not a gift to someone else -
Forgiving is your gift to yourself - a great gift - the gift of happiness.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: How to Forgive and Move On

Forgive Others for Your Own Sake

Stop Anger Before it Stops You 

Forgiveness is Essential to a Great Relationship
      

Caring for a Great Family

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

Love begins at home, and it is not how much we do...
but how much love we put in that action.
- Mother Teresa

The greatest gift is a portion of thyself.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

Remember that children, marriages, and flower gardens
reflect the kind of care they get.
- H. Jackson Brown, Jr.

Families are like fudge... mostly sweet with a few nuts.
- Anonymous

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

A Parent's Gift

Let today be a day to have gratitude for your family

Joy at Home

Family Time
      

Blinded by Fear, or Hope

There are none so blind as those who will not see.
- John Heywood (also attributed to the later Matthew Henry, and others)
(based on Jeremiah 5:21)

Hope and Fear Cloud Our Vision.
We do not always see what is before our face -
sometimes we see what we hope to see,
or what we fear we will see.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Normally, we do not so much look at things as overlook them.
- Alan Watts

The question is not what you look at, but what you see.
- Henry David Thoreau

Further reading: What We Perceive

Listen, Really Listen

Art of Seeing

Observe Life
    

Attitude of Gratitude

Develop an attitude of gratitude,
and give thanks for everything that happens to you,
knowing that every step forward
is a step toward achieving something bigger
and better than your current situation.
- Brian Tracy

A thankful heart is the greatest virtue.
- Cicero

Everything we do should be a result of our gratitude
for what God has done for us.
- Lauryn Hill

Today's affirmation:
I Receive ALL of Life with Thanksgiving -
I have gratitude for EVERYTHING
that has ever occurred to bring me to this moment.
I give thanks for the joys and the sufferings,
the moments of peace and the flashes of anger,
the compassion and the indifference,
the roar of my courage and the cold sweat of my fear.
I accept gratefully the entirety of my past and my present life.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Ten Little Tips to Feel Happier Right Now

Let Each Day be a Thanksgiving

Zero-Based Gratitude

Gratitude is crucial to your happiness
    

Election Day 2018 - VOTE NOW!

Our actions today will determine the world we leave our children.

Bad politicians are sent to Washington [and state and local government] by good people who don't vote.
- William E. Simon

PLEASE remind your family and friends to vote today!

Voting for the kind of America you believe in
is one of the greatest gifts you can give your grandchildren.
Make a difference. VOTE NOW!

Voting is the foundational act that breathes life into
the principle of the consent of the governed.
- DeForest Soaries

We will be known forever by the tracks we leave.
- Native American Proverb

Nothing is more important in our national life
than the welfare of our children.
- Harry S. Truman

Further reading: The Test is How We Care for Society's Children

A Truly Successful Life

Feed the Children

Honor the Children
   

VOTE TOMORROW!

VOTE TOMORROW!

Minds are like parachutes.
They only function when they are open.
- James Dewar

Every really new idea looks crazy at first.
- Alfred North Whitehead

The human mind, once stretched by a new idea,
never returns to its original dimensions.
- Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.

Few new truths have ever won their way
against the resistance of established ideas
save by being overstated.
- Isaiah Berlin

Every time you tear a leaf off a calendar,
you present a new place for new ideas and progress.
- Charles Kettering

Let today be a day to break with convention,
and try out new ideas and ways of living.

Further reading: New Ideas

You are the Window

The Art of Seeing

Honor Your Roots

Cultivate Awareness
    

The Nature of being a "Good Person" is being Compassionate

You may call God love, you may call God goodness.
But the best name for God is compassion.
- Meister Eckhart

I distrust those people who know so well
what God wants them to do,
because I notice it always coincides
with their own desires.
- Susan B. Anthony

The style of God venerated in the church, mosque, or synagogue
seems completely different from the style of the natural universe.
- Alan Watts

He who is persistent will realize God.
So try your best to make meditation
a regular experience in your life.
- Paramahansa Yogananda

When the universal sacraments of compassion and joy
fill the vast cathedral of our being,
we become the face of God.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Praying without ceasing is not ritualized,
nor are there even words.
It is a constant state of awareness of oneness with God.
- Peace Pilgrim

Further reading: Surrender to God

Be an Open Channel

Everything is God

Solitude vs. Feeling Lonely
    

Gratitude for the Flowers and the Thorns of Life

Everything is a miracle,
not just the beautiful and lovely things.
- Anonymous

We can complain because rose bushes have thorns,
or rejoice because thorn bushes have roses.
- Anonymous (falsely attributed to Abraham Lincoln)

Nature cannot be tricked or cheated.
She will give up to you the object of your struggles
only after you have paid her price.
- Napoleon Hill

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

Further reading: What One Emphasizes

Seeing Unexpected Beauty

Is your glass of life half empty? Or half full?

Planting Flowers
    

No One Can Persuade Another To Change

No one can persuade another to change.
Each of us guards a gate of change
that can only be opened from the inside.
We cannot open the gate of another,
either by argument or emotional appeal.
- Marilyn Ferguson

You cannot teach a man anything;
you can only help him find it within himself.
- Galileo Galilei

The truth only irritates those it enlightens,
but does not convert.
- Pasquier Quesnel

I cannot teach anybody anything.
I can only make them think.
- Socrates

The greatest roadblock to a great relationship
is trying to force a partner to change through bribes or threats.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Live and Let Live

The Problem with Advice

My thoughts on meddling in the affairs of others

Questions To Ask Yourself Before Offering Helpful Advice
    

Make This November a Month-Long Celebration of Gratitude and Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is my favorite American holiday, as being grateful for everything, especially for the gift of life itself, is at the top of my list of values. Will you join me in a celebration of Gratitude and Thanksgiving for the entire month of November?

Suppose our gratitude could be zero-based gratitude.
With zero-based gratitude,
we would be grateful for everything we had each day -
regardless of whether it was more or less than yesterday.
With zero-based gratitude, I can be grateful for all the people,
the love, the food, the shelter, the services,
the health, that I am blessed with today,
regardless of what I had yesterday.
With zero-based gratitude,
I can be grateful each day for the gift of life itself.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie -- Read about Zero-Based Gratitude

Gratitude bestows reverence, allowing us to encounter
everyday epiphanies, those transcendent moments of awe
that change forever how we experience life and the world.
- John Milton

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

Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life.
It turns what we have into enough, and more.
It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity.
It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend.
Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow.
- Melody Beattie

Affirmation:
I commit the whole month of November to expressing gratitude and thanksgiving.

Further reading: Recognizing Our Abundance

Gratitude for THIS Moment

The Truly Rich

Know that You have been Blessed

My Glass of Life