Be Counterpoint to the Clamor of the World

When we get too caught up in the busyness of the world,
we lose connection with one another - and ourselves.
- Jack Kornfield

The world clamors, "Do more! Be all that you can be!"
But our Father whispers, "Be still and know that I am God [Psalm 46:10]."
- Joanna Weaver

Wherever I am, the world comes after me.
It offers me its busyness.
It does not believe that I do not want it.
- Mary Oliver

May your life always be Counterpoint to the Clamor of the World.
May you delight in Dancing Lightly With Life.
May you soar on eagle wings, high above the madness of the world.
May you always sing Melody in the Symphony of Your Life.
May you taste, smell, and touch your dreams of a beautiful tomorrow.
May your sun always shine, and your sky be forever blue.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Today's affirmation:
I am Counterpoint to the Clamor of the World.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: A Life of Harmony

Try Meditation

Make Healthy Choices to Relieve Stress

Ten Little Tips to Feel Happier Right Now

12 Ways to De-Stress Your Life
    

A Prayer for Healing and Peace

Lord God, Holy Spirit, Giver of All Light,
Bless and Keep All Those of This World.
Grant Us Your Peace, Your Light, Your Love.
Grant Us Complete Renewal of Body, Mind and Spirit -
Continual Rebirth in Newness of Life.
Let Your Light Shine Upon Us and Be Gracious to Us.
Grant to Each and Every One of Us:
Health, Comfort, Joy, Peace Within Ourselves,
Peace Within Our Families, Peace Within Our Communities,
and Peace among All those This World.
Grant That I May Be an Instrument of Thy Peace.
Grant That I May Radiate Thy Peace, Thy Light, Thy Love,
Thy Healing, Thy Comfort, Thy Joy,
to All Those Around Me and All Those in My Thoughts
This Day and Ever More. AMEN.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

To be a beneficial presence in the world,
cultivate a conscious awareness of your unity with Spirit.
Expect good in your own life.
Desire good for all others as well.
See and affirm abundant blessings of peace,
health, and plenty for everyone.
Align your thoughts with peace and happiness,
and realize that these qualities are your true nature.
- Kathy Juline

Anyone can heal who believes that he can
and will take the time to put that belief into motion.
- Ernest Holmes

Further reading: May Peace Begin With Me

Allow Healing

An Exercise for Healing Your Worry

Create Light

Be an Open Channel

Be a Pillar of Goodness
       

Change Often

They must often change, who would be constant in happiness or wisdom.
- Confucius

The only way to make sense out of change
is to plunge into it, move with it, and join the dance.
- Alan Watts

Life is change. Growth is optional. Choose wisely.
- Anonymous

He who rejects change is the architect of decay.
- Harold Wilson

Further reading: Welcome the Unknown

Make Your Own Choices

Stay Adaptable

Be an Instrument of Change
    

Forgive Others, Regain Your Own Peace

Forgive others,
not because they deserve forgiveness,
but because you deserve peace.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

The key to forgiveness is to forgive from the heart -
not from the mind.
- Sheri Rosenthal

Without forgiveness, we remain tethered to the person who harmed us.
We are bound with chains of bitterness, tied together, trapped.
Until we can forgive the person who harmed us,
that person will hold the keys to our happiness; that person will be our jailer.
When we forgive, we take back control of our own fate and our feelings.
We become our own liberators.
Forgiveness, in other words, is the best form of self-interest.
This is true both spiritually and scientifically.
We don’t forgive to help the other person.
We don’t forgive for others.
We forgive for ourselves.
- Desmond Tutu (Archbishop Emeritus and recipient of Nobel Peace Prize)

Further reading: Ending Hatred

Forgiveness: Path to Inner Peace

Judging Others

Treat ALL with Goodness
    

Don't Confuse Trust with being Gullible

You may be deceived if you trust too much,
but you will live in torment
if you don't trust enough.
- Frank Crane

It takes years to build up trust,
and only seconds to destroy it.
- Anonymous

Trust yourself, then you will know how to live.
- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Only a fool tests the depth of the water with both feet.
- African Proverb

Anyone who doesn't take truth seriously in small matters
cannot be trusted in large ones either.
- Albert Einstein

It is wonderful to have Faith,
but don't confuse trust with being gullible.
Balance trust with conscious thought.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Can you trust and if so who?

Trust in the Light

What or who do you trust?

Take Nothing On Authority

7 Secrets of Happy Couples
     

You Are Here To Evolve

Man must evolve for all human conflict,
a method which rejects
revenge, aggression and retaliation.
The foundation of such a method is love.
- Martin Luther King, Jr.

You are here to evolve and make your consciousness high
You are here to dance, sing and celebrate life.
You are here to help others to make their life happy.
We are here not to compete, but to learn, evolve and excel.
We are not here to make divisions in the name of prophets and religions.
We are here to encompass the world with love and light.
- Amit Ray

As many raindrops join to form a great river of water,
many souls join their highest intent to form
the river of evolved consciousness.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Those who are highly evolved,
maintain an undiscriminating perception.
Seeing everything, labeling nothing,
they maintain their awareness of the Great Oneness.
Thus they are supported by it.
- Lao Tzu

Further reading: Wisdom through Understanding

Be an Observer of Life

Participate with Consciousness

The Journey Within
      

National Voter Registration Day 2019

National Voter Registration Day is an American National Holiday celebrating our democracy, and reminding ALL citizens to register and to vote. It is celebrated each fourth Tuesday of September - in 2019, on September 24.

PLEASE: Register to Vote - and Vote!

Voting for the kind of America you believe in
is one of the greatest gifts you can give your grandchildren.
In many ways, our future is determined as much by local school boards and city councils as by federal officials.
Make a difference.

Our lives begin to end the day we become silent
about things that matter.
- Martin Luther King, Jr.

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

We are called to be architects of the future, not its victims.
- R. Buckminster Fuller

All tyranny needs to gain a foothold
is for people of good conscience to remain silent.
- Thomas Jefferson

Do you want to know who you are? Don't ask. Act!
Action will delineate and define you.
- Thomas Jefferson

Voting is an expression of three key life principles -
CHOICE, INTENT, and ACTION.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Either Accept It, or Change It

You Are What You Do

True Measure of a Successful Life

Walk Your Path
    

Share Your Heart

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

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

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

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

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

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

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 Tender

Be Proactive in Your Love

What Does Love Look Like?
       

I will fear no evil

The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want...
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil: for thou art with me
- Psalm 23

Faith is the bird that feels the light
and sings when the dawn is still dark.
- Rabindranath Tagore

There is nothing that wastes the body like worry,
and one who has any faith in God should be ashamed
to worry about anything whatsoever.
- Mohandas Gandhi

Faith has to do with things that are not seen
and hope with things that are not at hand.
- Saint Thomas Aquinas

The antidotes for worry are gratitude, action, service, and faith.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Don't Worry about Tomorrow

The Edge of All You Know

Don't Let One Cloud

Harmony of the Soul
     

Rejoice in the Unknowing

What worries you, masters you.
- John Locke

An adventure is only an inconvenience rightly considered.
An inconvenience is only an adventure wrongly considered.
- G. K. Chesterton

This time, like all times, is a very good one,
if we but know what to do with it.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

Take a chance! All life is a chance.
The man who goes farthest is generally
the one who is willing to do and dare.
- Dale Carnegie

Life is lived in the mists;
little is fully visible; less is certain.
Yet rejoice in the unknowing,
and let all of life be a wonderful adventure.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: The Edge of All You Know

Rejoice in the Way Things Are

An Unknowable Future

Knowledge is Soon Changed
      

The Master of My Emotions

Happiness is not the absence of problems,
but the willingness to deal with them joyfully.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

If I feel depressed I will sing.
If I feel sad I will laugh.
If I feel ill I will double my labor.
If I feel fear I will plunge ahead.
If I feel inferior I will wear new garments.
If I feel uncertain I will raise my voice.
If I feel poverty I will think of wealth to come.
If I feel incompetent I will think of past success.
If I feel insignificant I will remember my goals.
Today I will be the master of my emotions.
- Og Mandino

Take control of your consistent emotions
and begin to consciously and deliberately
reshape your daily experience of life.
- Tony Robbins

Further reading: Serenity in Times of Crisis

Release the Struggle

The Storm of Life
     

Give Thanks for Both the Bloom and the Thorns

Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans.
- John Lennon

The key to happiness is not to have what you want
but to want what you have.
- Anonymous

The most glorious moments in your life
are not the so-called days of success,
but rather those days when out of dejection and despair
you feel rise in you a challenge to life,
and the promise of future accomplishments.
- Gustave Flaubert

Happiness depends more on how life strikes you than on what happens.
- Andy Rooney

We all have our thorns.
We, and Life, have our moments.
Life occurs before our morning coffee.
Life occurs in our bathrobe with our hair uncombed.
Bless and give thanks for All of Life - the bloom and the thorns.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Life isn't a matter of milestones, but of moments.
- Rose Kennedy

Further reading: Choose a Joyful Life

Don't Resist Life

Life is Not Supposed to be Fair

The Power of Your Intention
     

Embrace that the Seasons Change

To be interested in the changing seasons is a happier
state of mind than to be hopelessly in love with spring.
- George Santayana

There are good and bad times,
but our mood changes
more often than our fortune.
- Thomas Carlyle

In times of change, learners inherit the earth;
while the learned find themselves beautifully equipped
to deal with a world that no longer exists.
- Eric Hoffer

Change is the law of life.
And those who look only to the past or present
are certain to miss the future.
- John F. Kennedy

Further reading: Renewal and Rebirth - The Great Cycle

Another Wave Comes, Another Wave Goes

Endings and New Beginnings
      

First accept reality, only then choose how to react to it

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

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

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

 Be still and know who you are.
- Kirtana

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

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

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

First accept reality, only then choose how to react to it.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Cherish This Moment

Byron Katie - No one can give you freedom but you

Cultivate Awareness

Live in the Present

Cease Striving

Breath by Breath 
   

Welcome Today with a Commitment and with a Smile

Just smiling goes a long way toward making you feel better about life.
And when you feel better about life, your life is better.
- Art Linkletter

The lure of the distant and the difficult is deceptive.
The great opportunity is where you are.
- John Burroughs

First ask yourself: What is the worst that can happen?
Then prepare to accept it.
Then proceed to improve on the worst.
- Dale Carnegie

Smile and the world smiles with you.
- Anonymous

Always do the best you can,
and everything else will take care of itself.
Focus your energies on doing what you can
rather than worrying about what you can't.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Peace begins with a smile.
- Mother Teresa

A smile that begins as an effort and a pretense quickly grows to become genuine,
and given time, a habit of happiness. In the words of Zen master Thich Nhat Hanh, "Sometimes your joy is the source of your smile, but sometimes your smile can be the source of your joy.

Inner Smile Exercise:
1. Breath slowly, deeply, and consciously.
2. Close your eyes and set the corners of your mouth in just the slightest smile.
3. Visualize your smile growing larger and larger, and your happiness increasing.

Today's affirmation:
Every day in every way I am getting better and better.
- Émile Coué

Further reading: Ten Little Tips to Feel Happier Right Now

Beyond Your Worries

No Regrets
   

Yes, Make the Effort -- Do Small Things with Great Love

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

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

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

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

Further reading: A Small Quiet Voice

Really Listen

Trust Your Own Advice

Is That All There Is - Peggy Lee
      

Welcome Small Pleasures

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

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

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

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: Stand Rapt in Awe

Live Gently

Beyond Understanding

Compassion, Kindness, Humility
      

Lead a Clean Life and Avoid Keeping Secrets

Live in such a way that you would not be ashamed
to sell your parrot to the town gossip.
- Will Rogers

The man who can keep a secret may be wise,
but he is not half as wise as the man with no secrets to keep.
- Edgar Watson Howe

The fewer secrets you have, the happier you will be.
If you don't want others to know about it, don't do it.
If you always do what you know you should,
you will never have to worry about keeping secrets.
Be a person with no secrets to keep.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

There are no secrets that time does not reveal.
- Jean Racine

Further reading: Set an Impeccable Example

7 Secrets for a Happy Life

Why be Good?

Honor Your Commitments
      

Think Twice Whenever "Fault" Is Mentioned

When you are offended at any man's fault,
turn to yourself and study your own failings.
Then you will forget your anger.
- Epictetus

All the world is full of suffering.
It is also full of overcoming.
- Helen Keller

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

Fall seven times, stand up eight.
- Japanese Proverb

It isn't the mountain ahead that wears you out;
it's the grain of sand in your shoe.
- Robert W. Service

Where there is no accusation of "fault,"
there can be no anger.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Sometimes "bad" things just happen. Try to avoid lashing out at whoever is handiest - your spouse, your family, your friend, the government, God.

Direct your attention to finding a way forward,
rather than to assigning blame.
 - Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: How to Deal with Anger

Revenge is Never the Answer

When You Have Been Wronged
      

Patriot Day / September 11th 2019

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

Courage doesn't always roar.
Sometimes courage is the quiet voice
at the end of the day saying,
"I will try again tomorrow."
- Mary Anne Radmacher

We must build dikes of courage
to hold back the flood of fear.
- Martin Luther King, Jr.

Fear defeats more people than
any other one thing in the world.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

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

A life lived in fear is a life half lived.
- Anonymous

Photo was taken in the aftermath of 9/11 2001 in New York City

Further reading: Gather Strength

Draw from Suffering

To Overcome Fear

Hard Times
    

Look Obstacles Squarely in the Eye

Real obstacles don't take you in circles.
They can be overcome.
Invented ones are like a maze.
- Barbara Sher

Press on.
Obstacles are seldom the same size tomorrow as they are today.
- Robert H. Schuller

Obstacles are like wild animals.
They are cowards but they will bluff you if they can.
If they see you are afraid of them...
they are liable to spring upon you;
but if you look them squarely in the eye,
they will slink out of sight.
- Orison Swett Marden

One who gains strength by overcoming obstacles
possesses the only strength which can overcome adversity.
- Albert Schweitzer

Further reading: Learn to Motivate Yourself

Later is Never

Choose Your Habits, Choose Your Life
       

Love Bravely, Live Bravely, Be Courageous

Today is your day to paint life in bold colors;
set today's rhythm with your heart-drum;
walk today's march with courage;
create today as your celebration of life.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Love bravely, live bravely, be courageous;
there's really nothing to lose.
There's no wrong you can't make right again,
so be kinder to yourself;
have fun, take chances. There are no bounds.
- Jewel

To love what you do and feel that it matters,
how on earth could anything be more fun.
- Katherine Graham

Stop acting as if life is a rehearsal.
Live this day as if it were your last.
The past is over and gone.
The future is not guaranteed.
- Wayne Dyer

I am the poet of my mind.
I am the painter of my heart.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: The Canvas Of Life

Create Your Masterwork

Fun and Success

Big Dream - Big Adventure
     

A man's pride shall bring him low

A man is called selfish not for pursuing his own good,
but for neglecting his neighbor's.
- Richard Whately

The ego lives by comparisons...
The ego cannot survive without judgment.
- A Course in Miracles

Conceit is bragging about yourself.
Confidence means you believe you can get the job done.
- Johnny Unitas

A man's pride shall bring him low,
but honor shall uphold the humble in spirit.
- Proverbs 29:23

Further reading: Be Humble

Self-Importance

Ingratitude
      

Stop, Try a New Perspective

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

Just stop it. Seriously.
Whatever it is. Just stop it.
If only for an hour, a day, a week.
Stop doing it long enough to get a glimpse
of what the change would actually look like.
- Mary Anne Radmacher

Stop holding on to the past.
Release your regrets about whatever you may have done
or failed to do that turned out poorly.
Forgive others for whatever they may have done
or failed to do that caused you harm.
Declare today to be a new beginning.
Let go of the past and move on with creating
a joyful new future for yourself.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Remember the two benefits of failure.
First, if you do fail, you learn what doesn't work;
and second,
the failure gives you the opportunity to try a new approach.
- Roger von Oech

Further reading: Create Completion

Learn to Move On and Let Go

Pragmatism
     

Keep Learning, Keep Humble.

The universe is full of magical things
patiently waiting for our wits to grow sharper.
- Eden Phillpotts

Imagination is the true magic carpet.
- Norman Vincent Peale

Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.
- Arthur C. Clarke

Genius is another word for magic,
and the whole point of magic is that it is inexplicable.
- Margot Fonteyn

Love can sometimes be magic.
But magic can sometimes...
just be an illusion.
- Javan

The sum of what humanity doesn't yet know, but someday will, far exceeds everything we know today.
And the sum of what we will never know is even greater.
Keep Learning, Keep Humble.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

*** If you are a Twitter user, please follow me at @jonhuie

Further reading: Honor New Ideas

The Canvas Of Life

Imagination

The Edge of All We Know
      

Natural Goodness

When we trust in the natural goodness around us,
we open ourselves for the blessings of life to flow toward us.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

We return thanks to the Great Spirit,
in whom is embodied all goodness,
and who directs all things for the good of his children.
- Iroquois traditional

The unthankful heart... discovers no mercies;
but let the thankful heart sweep through the day and,
as the magnet finds the iron,
so it will find, in every hour,
some heavenly blessings!
- Henry Ward Beecher

We return thanks to the Great Spirit,
in whom is embodied all goodness,
and who directs all things for the good of his children.
- Iroquois traditional

Blessings flow toward gratitude.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Know that You have been Blessed

The Power of Your Intention

Believe in People; Believe in Yourself

Creating the world that could be
    

Not All "Experts" Are

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

One accurate measurement is worth a thousand expert opinions.
- Grace Hopper (United States Navy rear admiral and a pioneer of computer programming)

Believe nothing, no matter where you read it,
or who said it, no matter if I have said it,
unless it agrees with your own reason and your own common sense.
- The Buddha

A censor is a man who knows more than he thinks you ought to.
- Laurence J. Peter

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

Always listen to the experts.
They'll tell you what can't be done and why.
Then do it.
- Robert A. Heinlein

Further reading: Trust Reason

Use Common Sense

Take Charge of Your Life

Authority Does Not Define Morality

Exercise Your Free Will
     

Nothing is Impossible when You are Young in Spirit

The young do not know enough to be prudent,
and therefore they attempt the impossible -
and achieve it,
generation after generation.
- Pearl S. Buck

Everyone who got where he is,
had to begin where he was.
- Richard L. Evans

The youth gets together his materials
to build a bridge to the moon,
or, perchance, a palace or temple on the earth,
and, at length, the middle-aged man
concludes to build a woodshed with them.
- Henry David Thoreau

Youth is a quality, not a matter of circumstances.
- Frank Lloyd Wright

Nothing is Impossible when You are Young in Spirit.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: How to Stay Young

Be Brave and Chase Your Dreams

Top 5 Regrets of the Dying

Aging With Grace
      

Labor Day 2019

Labor Day in the United States is a public holiday celebrated on the first Monday in September. It honors the American Labor Movement (Labor Unions) and the contributions that workers have made to the strength, prosperity, laws and well-being of the country.

The world is moved along, not only by the mighty shoves of its heroes,
but also by the aggregate of tiny pushes of each honest worker.
- Helen Keller

A truly American sentiment recognizes the dignity of labor
and the fact that honor lies in honest toil.
- Grover Cleveland

There is no hope for the workingman outside of organization.
- Peter J. McGuire, co-founder of the American Federation of Labor
        and reported "father" of the American Labor Day holiday

The labor movement means just this: it is the last noble protest of the American people against the power of incorporated wealth.
 - Wendell Phillips

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: Labor Day 2017

What You Do Makes a Difference

Working Together

Cooperation
              

Appreciate Again and Again

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

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

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

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: Thank You God

Let Each Day be a Thanksgiving

A List of Gratitudes - a Thanksgiving

Gratitude: Virtue and Joy