Your Attitude Determines the Quality of Your Life

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

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

Attitude is Everything.
- Charles Swindoll

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

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

Further reading: Play the Cards You Hold

How To Be Happy In Life

Choose to be Cheerful

Choose a Joyful Life

What One Emphasizes
    

What You Are SO Sure You Know

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

About most subjects, there is not "The Truth."
There is merely one's personal truth.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

It ain't what you don't know that gets you into trouble.
It's what you know for sure that just ain't so.
- Mark Twain (attributed)

The problem with making assumptions
is that we believe they are the truth
- don Miguel Ruiz

The more opinions you have, the less you see.
- Wim Wenders

Examine, inquire.
Look into the nature of things.
Search out the grounds of your opinions,
the for and against.
Know why you believe, understand what you believe,
and possess a reason for the faith that is in you.
- Frances Wright

People are dumb, panicky dangerous animals and you know it. Fifteen hundred years ago everybody knew the Earth was the center of the universe. Five hundred years ago, everybody knew the Earth was flat, and fifteen minutes ago, you knew that humans were alone on this planet. Imagine what you'll know tomorrow.
- 1997 Comedy Movie "Men In Black"

Everything is not as it appears to be.
- Proverb

Further reading: Question Your Questions

Truth isn't True

Maybe So, Maybe Not.

The Illusion of Knowledge

Expectations

Assumptions
     

Truths and Illusions

Everything is not as it appears to be.
- Proverb

The pure and simple truth is rarely pure and never simple.
- Oscar Wilde

Losing an illusion makes you wiser than finding a truth.
- Ludwig Boerne

What if it were only an illusion?
Perhaps life is not as threatening as it appears.
Perhaps the greatest threat to our serenity
is our fear of the future -
our fear of the unknown.
Perhaps, as Franklin D. Roosevelt said,
"The Only Thing We Have to Fear Is Fear Itself."
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Today's image shows a Müller-Lyer perceived length optical illusion.

Further reading: Question Your Questions

When Life Looks Hopeless

Belief - Point-of-View

Maybe So, Maybe Not. - Ancient Taoist Proverb
    

Today!

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

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

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

The past is important only as a lesson. Never allow yourself regret.
Planning for the future is essential, but that planning must occur in the present.
Worrying about the future serves no purpose.
Focus all your energies on living Today.
 - Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Gratitude for THIS Moment

Don't Wait - Begin Today

The Futility of Regret

Cherish This Moment
      

Beauty is Everywhere

Beauty in things exists in the mind which contemplates them.
- David Hume

Do not blame the thistle that you see no beauty.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

There is a kind of beauty in imperfection.
- Conrad Hall

The eyes are not responsible when the mind does the seeing.
- Publilius Syrus

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder
- Anonymous

The eye sees what it brings the power to see.
- Thomas Carlyle

Further reading: Your Point of View

What You See

What We Perceive

Appreciate The Commonplace
    

Laugh With, Live For, Dream With, Love

Marriage, ultimately, is the practice of
becoming passionate friends.
- Harville Hendrix

This day I will marry my friend,
the one I laugh with, live for, dream with, love.
- Anonymous

Don't marry the person you think you can live with;
marry only the individual you think you can't live without.
- James C. Dobson

The formula for achieving a successful relationship is simple:
you should treat all disasters as if they were trivialities
but never treat a triviality as if it were a disaster.
- Quentin Crisp

Further reading: What is Love?

7 Secrets of Happy Couples

You Can't Make Them Change
       

God is in, through, around and for us

We live in a spiritual Universe.
God is in, through, around and for us.
- Ernest Holmes

Miracles are a retelling in small letters
of the very same story which is written across the whole world
in letters too large for some of us to see.
- C. S. Lewis

Religion asks us to believe in someone else's experience of the Divine,
while spirituality invites us to have our own.
- Timber Hawkeye

We are not human beings having a spiritual experience.
We are spiritual beings having a human experience.
- Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.
- Albert Einstein

Today's affirmation:
I see the miracle in all of life.
I am thankful for all creation.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Know that You have been Blessed

Where there is Great Love

Love is Everything

Stillness
    

My Heart-Felt Brothers and Sisters

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

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

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

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

Further reading: Condemn None

Respect Others

Perspective on Diversity
      

Meet the Unknown with Courage and a Sense of Adventure

Know that the greatest fear is fear of the unknown.
Seek to meet the unknown with courage and a sense of adventure.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

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

If we let things terrify us,
life will not be worth living.
- Seneca

It is only human to fear change, and to fear the unknown.
Usually, change is for the better. But even when a change is, on balance, painful,
there is always a silver lining to every cloud.
Be grateful for the blessings, and accept the rest as important lessons.
Right now, take a deep breath and welcome change.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Welcome the Unknown

The Edge of All You Know

Not Knowing

Beyond Fear
    

Faith (Trust God) Plus Action (Trust Yourself)

Faith plus action becomes unstoppable.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

To have faith is to trust yourself to the water.
When you swim you don't grab hold of the water,
because if you do you will sink and drown.
Instead you relax, and float.
- Alan Watts

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

If you have to have it, it's ego.
If you have to not have it, it's ego.
Hold life lightly and it will deliver what you need
and release what you don't.
- Alan Cohen

A good example is the best sermon.
- Benjamin Franklin

Struggle: to make strenuous or violent efforts in the face of difficulties or opposition.
- Merriam Webster Dictionary

To struggle less:
Plan more.
Thoughtfully consider alternatives.
Have more patience.
Have more Faith.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: A Life of Being at Peace

Harmony of the Soul

Dealing with Dark Days

Release the Struggle
   

A Foundation to Depend Upon

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

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

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

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

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

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

Further reading: Honoring Our Roots

Not By Our Bootstraps

Feeling Blessed

Pay It Forward
       

Work With Life, Not Against It

Resistance creates suffering.
Stress happens when your mind resists what is.
The only problem in your life
is your mind's resistance to life as it unfolds.
- Dan Millman

If we fail to plan, we merely bob helplessly -
like a cork on the sea of life.
If we resist whatever life delivers to us,
we create untold misery for ourselves.
If we act with vision and commitment,
and then accept whatever Spirit provides,
we live a life of purpose and joy.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

By letting it go it all gets done.
The world is won by those who let it go.
But when you try and try.
The world is beyond the winning.
- Lao Tzu

Life is a series of natural and spontaneous changes.
Don't resist them - that only creates sorrow.
Let reality be reality.
Let things flow naturally forward in whatever way they like.
- Lao Tzu

What you resist, persists.
- Carl Jung

We may brave human laws, but we cannot resist natural ones.
- Jules Verne

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

Further reading: Everything Happens In Its Own Time

Acceptance Is Not Resignation

Non-Resistance

Serenity in Times of Crisis
    

The Grandeur of Creation

The creation of a thousand forests is in one acorn.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

To be admitted to Nature's hearth costs nothing.
None is excluded, but excludes himself.
You have only to push aside the curtain.
- Henry David Thoreau

Today is a good day to look around at the grandeur of creation.
Whether flower or cactus, butterfly or caterpillar, elk or lizard,
vegetable garden or compost pile.
Our world is magnificent - all of it.
Rejoice and give thanks for all of life.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Study nature, love nature,
stay close to nature. It will never fail you.
- Frank Lloyd Wright

Further reading: Everything is a Miracle

Listen to Nature's Messengers

Beauty and Adventure in the Commonplace

One Drop of Water
     

Share What You Have, Be Of Service

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

We Belong to Each Other

The Power of Generosity

Helping
    

The Little Stuff is What Drags You Down

The Little Stuff is What Drags You Down
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Any idiot can face a crisis. It's the day-to-day living that wears you out.
- Anton Chekhov

Don't Sweat The Small Stuff
... and it's all small stuff
- Richard Carlson
See a few of Richard Carlson's 100 ideas from Don't Sweat The Small Stuff... 

Stress is nothing more than a socially acceptable form of mental illness.
- Richard Carlson

"Worry" is a word that I don't allow myself to use.
- Dwight D. Eisenhower

For every minute you remain angry,
you give up sixty seconds of peace of mind.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

Further reading: Lighten Up, Be Happy

Treat Trifles as Trifles - Doris Lessing

What Really Matters?
       

Cherish Your Dreams and Aspirations

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

Far away there in the sunshine are my highest aspirations.
I may not reach them, but I can look up and see their beauty,
believe in them, and try to follow where they lead.
- Louisa May Alcott

Keep high aspirations, moderate expectations,
and small needs.
- William Howard Stein

You will become as small as your controlling desire;
as great as your dominant aspiration.
- James Allen

Within our dreams and aspirations we find our opportunities.
- Sugar Ray Leonard

Today's exercise:
Reexamine that to which you aspire.
Do you need different goals?
Or perhaps the same destination,
but a better way to get there?

Further reading: Don't be Limited by what is "Reasonable"

Do more of what inspires you

Don't Try To Please Everyone

Success Tip: Drive Change

Stand Up To Your Obstacles
       

Do Your Best, Then Accept the Rest

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

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

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

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

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

Further reading: Maybe So, Maybe Not. - Ancient Taoist Proverb

Let It Go - Zen

Fear of Striking Out

Forgive Yourself

How to get over regrets and resentments
       

Appreciate Yourself and Others

The roots of all goodness lie
in the soil of appreciation for goodness.
- Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama

Expressing gratitude seems like a cosmic invitation
for all kinds of thankfulness and appreciation to pour in.
- Mary Anne Radmacher

Appreciate everyone in your life.
Appreciate everything you have.
Appreciate your whole life.
 - Jonathan Lockwood Huie

There is more hunger for love and appreciation
in this world than for bread.
- Mother Teresa

Further reading: Zero-Based Gratitude

Show Your Honest Appreciation - Today

Pay It Forward
      

Look Deep Into Nature

Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.
- Albert Einstein

In one drop of water are found all the secrets of all the oceans.
- Khalil Gibran

Give thanks for the rain in your life
which waters the flowers of your soul.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Water is the driving force of all nature.
- Leonardo da Vinci

Many a man curses the rain that falls upon his head,
and knows not that it brings abundance
to drive away the hunger.
- Saint Basil

When the well's dry, we know the worth of water.
- Benjamin Franklin

Further reading: The true meaning of life

The World We Leave Our Children

Gratitude for Our Blessings

Natural World

Watering
      

Adjust Your Own Sails

I am the captain of my soul.
- William Ernest Henley

We cannot direct the wind, but we can adjust the sails.
- Bertha Calloway (attributed)

To reach a port, we must sail -
sail, not tie at anchor - sail, not drift.
- Franklin D. Roosevelt quoting Oliver Wendell Holmes

When it is obvious that the goals cannot be reached,
don't adjust the goals, adjust the action steps.
- Confucius

We must adjust to changing times
and still hold to unchanging principles.
- Jimmy Carter

We must free ourselves of the hope
that the sea will ever rest.
We must learn to sail in high winds.
- Aristotle Onassis

Today's affirmation:
I set my own course through the ocean of life.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Boldly Sail the Storms of Life

What Can Christopher Columbus Teach Us Today?

Tested by Storms

An Anchor And A Sail

Being the Melody

Where do you want to go?
      

God Calls Us To Help Others

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

That which you hate to be done to you,
do not do to another.
- Ancient Egyptian Proverb
[There is a form of the "Golden Rule" in virtually every religious and cultural tradition.
This is perhaps the earliest.]

Jesus said: "A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. So too, a Levite [religious leader], when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan [Samaritans and Jews generally disliked and were suspicious of each other] came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. He went to him and bandaged his wounds ... and ... took him to an inn and took care of him. ...
Jesus [said] "Go and do likewise."
- Luke 10:25-37 (The Parable of the Good Samaritan)

Further reading: Be a Pillar of Goodness

Do God's Work

Peace IS the Way 

Where There is Love, Nothing is Missing - a Parable

Be an Open Channel
            

Make Time To Be Alone And Quiet In Nature

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.

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

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

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

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

Further reading: Ten Little Tips to Feel Happier Right Now

Renew Yourself

What To Do When Your Whole World Is Falling Apart?
    

Regret Is Not A Useful Emotion

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

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

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

The 3 Rs that Plague Humanity:
Regret, Resentment, and Revenge.
Regret Is Not A Useful Emotion
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: How to get over regrets and resentments

Do What You Can Do

Choose to Love Life
      

Try To Keep Company Only With People Who Uplift You

You can’t force anyone to value, respect, understand, or support you,
but you can choose to spend your time around people who do.
- Lori Deschene

The key is to keep company only with people who uplift you,
whose presence calls forth your best.
- Epictetus

Life is partly what we make it,
and partly what it is made by the friends we choose.
- Tehyi Hsieh

Be careful the friends you choose - for you will become like them.
- W. Clement Stone

Further reading: Happy Friends - Happy You

Happiness in Cheering Others

Choosing Your Friends

Radiate Your Happiness to the World
               

Compassion is the Ultimate Value in Life

Universal compassion is the only guarantee of morality.
- Arthur Schopenhauer

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

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

I can do no other than be reverent
before everything that is called life.
I can do no other than to have compassion
for all that is called life.
That is the beginning and the foundation of all ethics.
- Albert Schweitzer

Further reading: Keep the Golden Rule

Feed the Hungry

The Universal Sacrament of Compassion

True Measure of a Successful Life
   

Be Bigger Than Your Exasperation

You are precisely as big as what you love and precisely
as small as what you allow to annoy you.
- Robert Anton Wilson

Choose Inner Peace.
Nothing is worth losing your inner peace.
Take action as circumstances require,
but never surrender your inner peace.
Stop. Breathe deeply.
Close your eyes and breathe deeply again.
Then, and only then, take action -
from a peaceful heart.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

You may not seem able to change some outer circumstances
but you can start by changing your inner experience of life and yourself.
- Joy Page

We can never obtain peace in the outer world
until we make peace with ourselves.
- Dalai Lama

The world has always been in an uproar, and it always will be.
Choose Peace. Choose to live with Peace.
Choose to interact peacefully with everyone -
especially those whose instinct is not to be peaceful.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Never be in a hurry; do everything quietly and in a calm spirit.
Do not lose your inner peace for anything whatsoever,
even if your whole world seems upset.
- Saint Francis de Sales

Further reading: Slow Down and Focus

Have Gratitude for THIS Moment

Kick Back

Focus on Peace
    

Cheer When Others Succeed

One of the sanest, surest, and most generous joys of life
comes from being happy over the good fortune of others.
- Robert A. Heinlein

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

Appreciation is a wonderful thing.
It makes what is excellent in others belong to us as well.
- Voltaire

Sadly, it is human nature to measure success by comparison with our neighbors.
A consequence of this tendency is the instinct to wish for others to fail
and our own status to therefore appear higher by comparison.
Strive to cheer whenever others succeed
and to avoid viewing your own achievements in comparison to others.

Further reading: Empathy

Light for Others

The Art of Listening

Eight Rules for Living Your Greatest Life

Disappointment

Offer Comfort
      

Find something to enjoy and to appreciate about TODAY.

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

Not what we have,
but what we enjoy,
constitutes our abundance.
- Epicurus

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

Doing what you love is the cornerstone of having abundance in your life.
- Wayne Dyer

Find something to enjoy and to appreciate about TODAY.

Today's affirmation:
My Cup Runneth Over - My Life Is Abundant.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Know that You have been Blessed

Have Gratitude for THIS Moment

Appreciate Your Abundance

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

Celebrate Differences, Celebrate Others

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

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

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

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

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

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

Further reading: Respect Others

Each To Their Own

A Different Drummer
       

Personal Value System

To believe in something, and not to live it, is dishonest.
- Mohandas (Mahatma) Gandhi

Honor, Forgiveness, Gratitude, Choice,
Vision, Action, Celebration, Unity -
The Values of an Inspired Life.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

This is my simple religion.
There is no need for temples;
no need for complicated philosophy.
Our own brain, our own heart is our temple;
the philosophy is kindness.
- Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama

Today's project:
Meaningful and joyful lives are lived by adhering to one's personal value system - one's principles. Today, write your six to eight most important values on an index card, and refer to that card as you go about your life today.

Further reading: Do What You Know Is Right

Things Divine

Secret of Happiness

What We Are Made Of
     

Work Toward Overcoming Your Own Biases

Misunderstanding arising from ignorance breeds fear,
and fear remains the greatest enemy of peace.
- Lester B. Pearson

Everyone is a prisoner of his own experiences.
No one can eliminate prejudices - just recognize them.
- Edward R. Murrow
Read Who was Edward R. Murrow

Criticism is prejudice made plausible.
- H. L. Mencken

People see themselves as the center of the universe
and judge everything as it relates to them.
- Peace Pilgrim

There is no neutrality.
There is only greater or lesser
awareness of one's bias.
- Phyllis Rose

Everything we say, do, think, and feel
is a product of our personal history
and the collective history of humankind.
Our name for these histories is "prejudice."
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Avoid Labeling Yourself

Love All, Judge None

Travel Teaches Toleration

Oscar Wilde on Morality