New Year's Eve 2018/2019

Cheers to a new year and another chance for us to get it right.
- Oprah Winfrey

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

Remember that happiness is as contagious as gloom.
It should be the first duty of those who are happy
to let others know of their gladness.
- Maurice Maeterlinck

It's your life.
Live it with people who are alive.
It tends to be contagious.
- Peter McWilliams

At the end of a matter ask,
"What will I learn from this to make me better?"
- Mary Anne Radmacher

Cheer for endings -- whether goals have been met or not --
whether the ending is tidy or ragged.
Without endings, there would be neither the opportunity
nor the incentive to think new thoughts,
and to begin great new projects.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Create Completion

Endings and Beginnings

What's Done is Done

Time to Move On 

Finishing

Compassion Is A Moral Imperative

Do to others as you would have them do to you.
- Luke 6:31 (the "Golden Rule")

Compassion is not a relationship between the healer and the wounded.
It's a relationship between equals.
Only when we know our own darkness well
can we be present with the darkness of others.
Compassion becomes real when we recognize our shared humanity.
- Pema Chodron

For me, an area of moral clarity is:
you're in front of someone who's suffering
and you have the tools at your disposal
to alleviate that suffering or even eradicate it,
and you act.
- Paul Farmer

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)

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: Feed the Hungry

Compassion, Kindness, Humility

Accept Others

Comfort, Rainbows, and Laughter
      

The Comfort Of A True Friend

True friends are those who lift you up
when your heart's wings forget how to fly.
- Anonymous

We listen. We listen. We move.
We sit. It rains. The sun comes out. (there stands a friend)
We listen. We laugh. We share.
We sit. We dance. It rains.
There stands a friend.
We listen. We share. We sit. We dance.
The sun comes up.
There. I stand, a friend.
- Mary Anne Radmacher

There is a magnet in your heart
that will attract true friends.
That magnet is unselfishness,
thinking of others first;
when you learn to live for others,
they will live for you.
- Paramahansa Yogananda

Everyone hears what you say.
Friends listen to what you say.
Best friends listen to what you don't say.
- Anonymous

Further reading: A True Friend

Your Greatest Gift

Rekindle the Light

Today's Art by Suze Stewart
    

Also Celebrate Endings

Celebrate endings - for they precede new beginnings.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

When I let go of what I am, I become what I might be.
- Lao Tzu

Don't cry because it's over,
smile because it happened.
- Anonymous

Good Endings precede Good Beginnings.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Exercise: Make a list of the 10 best things that happened for you this year.
Celebrate and have gratitude.
(If you have trouble making a list, begin with the basics:
you are still alive; probably you had enough to eat, clothes to wear, a roof over your head; ...)

Further reading: What's Done is Done

Cheer for Endings

Be an Instrument of Change

Never Quit??
       

Wonder Leads To Wisdom

From wonder into wonder existence opens.
- Lao Tzu

The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious.
It is the source of all true art and all science.
He to whom this emotion is a stranger,
who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe,
is as good as dead: his eyes are closed.
- Albert Einstein

Never say there is nothing beautiful in the world anymore.
There is always something to make you wonder
in the shape of a tree, the trembling of a leaf.
- Albert Schweitzer

True wisdom comes to each of us when we realize
how little we understand about life,
ourselves, and the world around us.
- Socrates

Wisdom begins in wonder.
- Socrates

Further reading: All Life is a Miracle

Appreciate the Basics of Life

An Unknowable Future

Cherish Mystery
    

Choose To Be Remembered By The Good You Have Done For Others

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

A good character is the best tombstone.
Those who loved you and were helped by you will remember
you when forget-me-nots have withered.
Carve your name on hearts, not on marble.
- Charles Spurgeon

What you leave behind is not what is engraved in stone monuments,
but what is woven into the lives of others.
- Pericles

What do you want written on your tombstone?
It won't be there if you haven't done it.
If you want "never missed a day of work," go for it,
but if you want it said that you radiated happiness to all around -
put a smile on every face - inspired us all to be the best we could be,
was a good friend, perhaps a loving spouse and parent,
you might want to start today to lighten up, and start to put happiness -
yours, your family's, and your friends -
ahead of material success or "achievement."

If you want to do it, do it - TODAY.
What you do TODAY is what others will remember. Make today count.

How do you want to be remembered? Live life full out - Begin today.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: New Year Suggestions

To Do That Which Will Endure

Seeds You Plant

Legacy to Future Generations
      

Christmas 2018

Christmas is not a time nor a season, but a state of mind.
To cherish peace and goodwill, to be plenteous in mercy,
is to have the real spirit of Christmas.
- Calvin Coolidge

I will honor Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year.
- Charles Dickens

May you have the gladness of Christmas which is hope;
The spirit of Christmas which is peace;
The heart of Christmas which is love.
- Ada V. Hendricks

Christmas waves a magic wand over this world,
and behold, everything is softer and more beautiful.
- Norman Vincent Peale

Further reading: Happy Birthday Jesus

With Love in My Heart

Brotherly Love 

The Power of Unconditional Love
   

Let There Be No Strangers On Christmas Eve

There are no strangers on Christmas Eve.
- Adele Comandini

Spending the holidays without family can feel depressing.
If you are not with your family this holiday,
take positive steps to feel good about yourself:
affirm your self worth,
spend time with your religious (or community) group,
and extend yourself to be of service to the less fortunate.

Is there someone who will be alone this Christmas unless you share your holiday with them?
Invite them to spend the day with you.

Lord, grant that I might not so much
seek to be loved as to love.
- St. Francis of Assisi

We may have found a cure for most evils;
but we have found no remedy for the worst of them all,
the apathy of human beings.
- Helen Keller

Constant kindness can accomplish much.
As the sun makes ice melt,
kindness causes misunderstanding,
mistrust, and hostility to evaporate.
- Albert Schweitzer

Further reading: The Universal Sacrament of Compassion

Love All, Judge None

Do God's Work

To Be a Faithful Follower of Jesus
        

Make a Gift of Yourself

The best of all gifts around any Christmas tree
is the presence of a happy family all wrapped up in each other.
- Burton Hills

Your greatest gift to your family and friends is yourself -
your relaxed, happy, and fully-present self.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

What if Christmas, he thought, doesn't come from a store.
What if Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more.
- Dr. Seuss

What is our family?
We touch our full hearts and see ourselves
reflected whole in each other's eyes.
- Mary Anne Radmacher

Do you know someone who will not be with their family this holiday season?
Consider inviting them to your home and welcoming them into your family.

Further reading: The World is My Family

Joy at Home

A Joyous Season of Renewal

What is a Home?
     

Let Your Approach To Life Be Lighthearted Rather Than Somber

Today is a perfect day to be happy.
Every day is a perfect day to be happy.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

The moment you start seeing life as non-serious, a playfulness,
all the burden on your heart disappears.
All the fear of death, of life, of love - everything disappears.
- Osho

Find ecstasy in life;
the mere sense of living is joy enough.
- Emily Dickinson

The Joy is in the Journey.
- Anonymous

Today is the tomorrow you worried about yesterday.
- Anonymous

Further reading: Life is too important to be taken seriously

Make Time For Yourself

Today is Your Day (my complete poem)

Life Lessons I Learned From My Cat
     

Make Empathy a Daily Practice

Could a greater miracle take place
than for us to look through each other's eyes for an instant?
- Henry David Thoreau

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

The more we care for the happiness of others,
the greater is our own sense of well-being.
- Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama

Before you criticize a man,
walk a mile in his shoes.
- Anonymous

Understanding is a two-way street.
- Eleanor Roosevelt

Further reading: The Art of Listening

Of all the keys to happiness, Service to Others is the big one

Opportunity for Kindness

Open Your Mind
      

Imagining is the First Step to Accomplishing

If you can imagine it, you can achieve it.
If you can dream it, you can become it.
- William Arthur Ward

Imagining is the first step to accomplishing.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Live out of your imagination, not your history.
- Stephen Covey

Imagination is everything.
It is the preview of life's coming attractions.
- Albert Einstein

Imagination is more important than knowledge.
For knowledge is limited to all we now know and understand,
while imagination embraces the entire world,
and all there ever will be to know and understand.
- Albert Einstein

The man who has no imagination has no wings.
- Muhammad Ali

The power of imagination makes us infinite.
- John Muir

Further reading: Why be Reasonable?

Genius is Another Word for Magic

The Canvas Of Life

Imagination
   

Respect Even Those With Whom You Vehemently Disagree

It comes down to the way you treat people.
When you treat people with dignity and respect all the time,
you can work through anything.
- John Bacon

I never considered a difference of opinion
in politics, in religion, in philosophy,
as cause for withdrawing from a friend.
- Thomas Jefferson

There is no respect for others without humility in one's self.
- Henri Frederic Amiel

Be modest, be respectful of others, try to understand.
- Lakhdar Brahimi

There is overwhelming evidence that the higher the level of self-esteem,
the more likely one will be to treat others with respect,
kindness, and generosity.
- Nathaniel Branden

Every human being, of whatever origin,
of whatever station, deserves respect.
We must each respect others even as we respect ourselves.
- U. Thant

Respect Even Those With Whom You Vehemently Disagree.

There is magic in respecting others.
Respect customers, vendors, bosses, employees, co-workers.
Respect parents, spouses, sons, daughters.
Respect the trash collector, the mayor, the bank teller, the truck driver.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Condemn None

Each To Their Own

How To Be Happy In Life

Humble Yet Confident
        

Share the Season - Share Yourself

Is there someone who will be alone this Christmas unless you share your holiday with them? Invite them to spend the day with you.

One must know not just how to accept a gift,
but with what grace to share it.
- Maya Angelou

The wise man does not lay up his own treasures.
The more he gives to others, the more he has for his own.
- Lao Tzu

Spending the holidays without family can feel depressing. If you are not with your family this holiday, take positive steps to feel good about yourself: affirm your self worth, spend time with your religious (or community) group, and extend yourself to be of service to the less fortunate.

Giving is the highest expression of our power.
- Vivian Greene

Among its other benefits,
giving liberates the soul of the giver.
- Maya Angelou

Further reading: Share the Season

Channels Made for Sharing

The Power of Generosity
     

Do The Very Best You Can and Trust That God Will Handle The Rest

Boredom is the feeling that everything is a waste of time;
serenity, that nothing is.
- Thomas Szasz

Happiness is a butterfly, which, when pursued,
is always just beyond your grasp,
but which, if you will sit down quietly,
may alight upon you.
- Nathaniel Hawthorne

Live Well, Love Much, Laugh Often.
- Anonymous

We have a good life when we manage to live with both
satisfied and unsatisfied needs,
when we are not obsessed by what is beyond our reach.
- Kjell Magne Bondevik

Laugh at yourself and at life.
Not in the spirit of derision or whining self-pity,
but as a remedy, a miracle drug, that will ease your pain,
cure your depression, and help you to put in perspective
that seemingly terrible defeat and worry
with laughter at your predicaments,
thus freeing your mind to think clearly toward the solution
that is certain to come. Never take yourself too seriously.
- Og Mandino

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

Further reading: The Blessing Of Serenity

Live in Peace

Pay Attention to the Natural World
       

Give Thanks for the Miracles of Each Day

A single grateful thought toward heaven is the most perfect prayer.
- Gotthold Ephraim Lessing

Today... Give thanks for the miracles -
Give thanks for the love.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Keep a grateful journal. Every night,
list five things you are grateful for.
- Oprah Winfrey

We can stand affliction better than we can prosperity,
for in prosperity we forget God.
- Dwight L. Moody

Further reading: The Power Of Gratitude

A Thankful Heart

Love All Of Life

Have a Conversation with God, Today
   

Life Is Not "Fair," But It Can Still Be Joyful

When I hear somebody sigh, "Life is hard,"
I am always tempted to ask, Compared to what?
- Sydney Harris

Adversity can crush our spirit - or strengthen it - it is our choice.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

What if we just acted like everything was easy?
- Mary Anne Radmacher

Whenever you say or even think, "This is hard,"
that task or challenge becomes difficult.
Dread it, and it becomes terrifying.

When you choose to move past fear -
fear of failure, fear of embarrassment, fear of "looking bad," fear of losing respect -
life becomes much lighter, and most any task becomes possible - perhaps even enjoyable.
Most any challenge can become an adventure of discovery.

The secret to a great life is recognizing that life was never intended to be fair.
Life simply isn't "fair," and that's okay.
The joy of life comes from playing the game of life as best we can,
focusing far more on the love and good example we can contribute
to other lives than on demanding money, stuff, love, or appreciation.
Service becomes a source of joy when it is not viewed as a duty.

Life Is Not "Fair," But It Can Still Be Joyful
Life is as easy or as hard as you think it is.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Do Not Rail Against Life

Strength In Hard Times

Circumstance Reveals What You Are Made Of
      

Don't Settle For Less Than Understanding Something Important For Yourself

You do ill if you praise, but worse
if you censure, what you do not understand.
- Leonardo da Vinci

There is a great difference between knowing and understanding:
you can know a lot about something and not really understand it.
- Charles Kettering

To realize that you do not understand is a virtue;
Not to realize that you do not understand is a defect.
- Lao Tzu

If you can't explain it simply,
you don't understand it well enough.
- Albert Einstein

Anger and intolerance are the enemies of correct understanding.
- Mohandas (Mahatma) Gandhi

The eye sees only what the mind is prepared to comprehend.
- Robertson Davies

Understanding does not cure evil,
but it is a definite help,
inasmuch as one can cope
with a comprehensible darkness.
- Carl Jung

Don't Settle For Less Than Understanding Something Important For Yourself.
 - Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Understand More, Fear Less

Open Minds

Seek the Truth

Knowledge is Soon Changed

Listen, Really Listen to Understand
     

After You Have Chosen Your Path, Walk It Each Day

There's a difference between knowing the path and walking the path.
- the character Morpheus in the movie The Matrix

You either do it completely and utterly,
or you should stop doing it.
- Bono (paraphrase)

The key to success, and to happiness,
is being fully engaged in life -
leading yourself with inspiration and committed action -
setting your own fine and honorable example.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Ninety-nine percent of the failures come from people who have the habit of making excuses.
- George Washington Carver

There are a hundred valid reasons why something can't be done,
but only one reason, Commitment, why it can.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Take Charge of Your Life - Secrets for Getting Un-Stuck

Enthusiasm and Passion

Wanting To Win

You Can Do It
     

The Simple is Often the Best

It is always the simple that produces the marvelous.
- Amelia Barr

In all things of nature there is something of the marvelous.
- Aristotle

Creativity is piercing the mundane to find the marvelous.
- Bill Moyers

There is beauty and adventure in the commonplace
for those with eyes to see beyond.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Simple Joys

Things Divine

Seeing Unexpected Beauty

Ten Little Tips to Feel Happier Right Now
       

The Future is Unimaginable. The Best is Yet to Come.

There is nothing in a caterpillar that tells you
it's going to be a butterfly.
- R. Buckminster Fuller

Vision stands on the shoulders of what is actual
to get a better view of what is possible.
- Mary Anne Radmacher

There are all kinds of futures.
There is a hoped-for future,
there is a feared future,
there is a predictable future,
and there is an unimagined future.
- Werner Erhard

Further reading: Hold Fast to Your Dreams

Be a Dreamer, In Action

Faith in a Great Future

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

Choose Unconditional Love Rather Than Hate

Darkness cannot drive out darkness;
only light can do that.
Hate cannot drive out hate;
only love can do that.
- Martin Luther King, Jr.

You never hate that which you do not first fear.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

When we hate our enemies, we are
giving them power over us:
power over our sleep, our appetites,
our blood pressure, our health, and our happiness.
Our enemies would dance with joy if only
they knew how they were worrying us,
lacerating us, and getting even with us!
Our hate is not hurting them at all,
but our hate is turning our own days
and nights into a hellish turmoil.
- Dale Carnegie

An "enemy" is a mirage -
an image of self reflected on the sands of Hell.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Hate returns upon itself.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Allow Love to Conquer Hate

Revenge, the Deadliest Sin?

Hatred vs. Love
 
Don't Get Burned by Your Own Anger
      

Jesus Calls Us To Love All People

A new command I give you: Love one another.
As I have loved you, so you must love one another.
- Jesus of Nazareth (John 13:34)

Seek always to do some good, somewhere.
Every man has to seek in his own way to realize his true worth.
You must give some time to your fellow man.
For remember, you don't live in a world all your own.
Your brothers are here too.
- Albert Schweitzer

An individual has not started living
until he can rise above the narrow confines
of his individualistic concerns
to the broader concerns of all humanity.
- Martin Luther King, Jr.

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

Further reading: Feed the Hungry

Sow Love Wherever You Go

Share Yourself Deeply

Love Begets Miracles
      

Think For Yourself

Let today be a day to take life less seriously.
Take the weight of the world off your shoulders.
Choose Joy.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Conformity is the jailer of freedom and the enemy of growth.
- John F. Kennedy

The reward for conformity is that everyone likes you but yourself.
- Rita Mae Brown

If you stand up and be counted,
from time to time you may get yourself knocked down.
But remember this: A man flattened by an opponent can get up again.
A man flattened by conformity stays down for good.
- Thomas J. Watson

Further reading: A Foolish Consistency

How to Deal with Rejection

Being Your Own Person

Thinking for Yourself
    

Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day 2018

Today, fear again grips America - in public and in private. Remember FDR's words and focus with courage on the job at hand - the job of living joyfully regardless of external circumstances.

The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.
- Franklin D. Roosevelt

This world of ours... must avoid becoming
a community of dreadful fear and hate,
and be, instead, a proud confederation of mutual trust and respect.
- Dwight D. Eisenhower

We shall draw from the heart of suffering itself
the means of inspiration and survival.
- Winston Churchill

Further reading: Serenity rather than Fear

You Need Courage

Revenge Never Ends
     

Discover the Empowering Force for Good that is Unconditional Love

Hatred paralyzes life; love releases it.
Hatred confuses life; love harmonizes it.
Hatred darkens life; love illumines it.
- Martin Luther King Jr.

Return love for hate.
- Anonymous

Hatred does not cease by hatred,
but only by love;
this is the eternal rule.
- The Buddha

Hate destroys, Love builds.
Hate tears down, Love renews and creates.
Hatred holds no hope for the future.
Love creates Today as its own better future.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Go and Do Likewise

Categorizing People

On the Unworkability of Vengeance

Life is a Reflection

Fear and Love
      

Make Deeply Considered Choices

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

Never allow a person to tell you NO
who doesn't have the power to say YES.
- Eleanor Roosevelt

Is freedom anything else than the right
to live as we wish? Nothing else.
- Epictetus

Today's affirmation:
I have no need to conform to the stereotypes others have defined for me.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Each of us has a choice in all matters. There is nothing that any of us ever HAVE to do. Each of us, man or woman, chooses the roles we play, and what we make of our lives at each instant. Expectation and Tradition are burdens we take upon ourselves, or choose to throw off.

Does this mean becoming selfish? Not at all, it means becoming selective. It always means doing what we believe is right, regardless of the expectations of others.

Expectations (Demands) suck the juice out of life. Don't believe that you are bound by the demands of others. You do not have to conform to the stereotypes others have defined for you.

Further reading: Trust Your Own Wisdom

Intention versus Expectation (Demand)

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

Chose Adventure
     

Dance With Life, All Of Life

Life is not about waiting for the storm to pass...
It's about learning how to dance in the rain.
- Vivian Greene

Be thou the rainbow in the storms of life.
The evening beam that smiles the clouds away,
and tints tomorrow with prophetic ray.
- Lord Byron

If you spend your whole life waiting for the storm,
you'll never enjoy the sunshine.
- Morris West

Is today a day to gather strength from the storm -
a day to to learn life lessons for the next battle?
Or is today a day to sit by the fire and watch the storm rage outside?
Either way, the storm is just life.
Give thanks for all of Life.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

When the tempest rages, when the thunders roar,
and the lightnings blaze around us,
it is then that the truly brave man stands firm at his post.
- Luther Martin

Further reading: Celebrating Rainbows and Butterflies - the Small Miracles of Our Life

Zero-Based Gratitude

How to Move On and Let Go
      

Beware Your Own Unguarded Thoughts

The monsters are in your own head.
- Paula Cole

Beware the Rattlesnake of the Mind
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

"Rattlesnake of the Mind" is a metaphor inspired by the Zen term, "Monkey Mind," which refers to the mind's tendency to invent an unending sequence of creative stories about everything we see and hear.

If you want peace, stop fighting.
If you want peace of mind,
stop fighting with your thoughts.
- Peter McWilliams

Life does not consist mainly,
or even largely, of facts or happenings.
It consist mainly of the storm of thoughts
that is forever flowing through one's head.
- Mark Twain

You are not your mind. You, a Spiritual BEing,
are neither your mind nor your body.
Mind and body are your tools - to use as you choose.
Sometimes your body appears to have a will of its own,
as when it twitches or pains.
Likewise, your mind often appears to have its own will.
That incessant chattering of regret, disappointment, guilt,
shame, foreboding, worry, and fear
is your Rattlesnake Mind striking off on its own.
Know that your mind can be a vicious rattlesnake, and be cautious.
The mind can be tamed, but only with conscious effort and patience.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Ten Little Tips to Feel Happier Right Now

Stilling Your Mind

Overflowing Cup of Tea - Zen Koan
      

See God's Hand In Every Flower

Nature Speaks God's Truth.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

The experience of God,
or in any case the possibility of experiencing God,
is innate.
- Alice Walker

Reading about nature is fine, but 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

God known only through books pales in comparison
to God personally experienced in daily life.
Become aware of God permeating everything.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Prayer and Mystery

Universal Connection

God of Children

Everyday Miracles
     

Celebrate Your Little Spark of Madness

Today is your day to practice whimsey,
smile broadly, sing loudly,
paint your rooms in bold colors,
watch wondrous cloud animals parade your story,
search every rabbit hole
for a magical white bunny,
have caviar for breakfast
and oatmeal for dinner,
wear a purple coat with a red hat,
and dance lightly with life.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie
 
You're only given a little spark of madness.
You mustn't lose it.
- Robin Williams

If being good isn't working - try being outrageous.
- Mary Anne Radmacher

Follow Your Bliss.
- Joseph Campbell

Who said that life had to be serious?
Imagine, Play, Sing, Turn Cartwheels, Be Unstoppable, Dance Wildly With Life.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

What if we like our outrageous side best?
We "know" that the "right" thing to do is to suck it up,
put the costume and the happy face back in storage for another year,
re-dress in our frown and gray flannel suit,
and trudge back to job, chores, "responsibilities," and "duty."
Stop! Maybe TODAY is the day to put the frown and gray flannel
into that dusty storage locker, and start to LIVE.
Not just today, but EVERY DAY for the rest of your life!
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Today: Do something Outrageous - just because you want to.
Take off your shoes and dance on the beach... Play in the mud... Sing at the top of your lungs... and don't care who hears you.
Celebrate today... Celebrate ME... Celebrate Life... Celebrate Rainbows and Butterflies... Celebrate Whimsey...

Further reading: Life is too important to be taken seriously

Today is Your Day (my complete poem)

Do Something Crazy

Life Lessons I Learned From My Cat