The Valley of the Shadow of Death

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

Instead of dwelling on negative thoughts,
cause your mind to dwell on peace and joy.
- Ernest Holmes

Learn to be calm and you will always be happy.
- Paramahansa Yogananda

Today's affirmation:
My life is the eye of the hurricane -
an island of calm in a sea of uncertainty.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Serenity in Times of Crisis

Calm in Chaos

Choose Not To Stress

Thoughtful Response, Not Panic
    

Master of Your Own Life

It is not the mountain we conquer but ourselves.
- Edmund Hillary

It is better to conquer yourself
than to win a thousand battles.
Then the victory is yours.
It cannot be taken from you,
not by angels or by demons, heaven or hell.
- The Buddha

I learned that courage was not the absence of fear,
but the triumph over it.
The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid,
but he who conquers that fear.
- Nelson Mandela

I believe that anyone can conquer fear
by doing the things he fears to do,
provided he keeps doing them until he gets
a record of successful experience behind him.
- Eleanor Roosevelt

Further reading:  Balance Caution With Courage

Don't Try to Please Everyone

Play to win, but be a good loser

Over 30 and Not Married
     

Welcome the Journey

Find something to be joyful about, TODAY.

It is good to have an end to journey towards;
but it is the journey that matters in the end.
- Ursula K. Le Guin

Happiness isn't at the end of the rainbow.
Happiness is at the beginning of the rainbow.
Following the rainbow is happiness,
not getting to the end of it.
- Werner Erhard

To live only for some future goal is shallow.
It's the sides of the mountain that sustain life, not the top.
- Robert M. Pirsig

Come dress yourself in love, let the journey begin.
- Francesca da Rimini

Further reading: Stay Adaptable

The Secret of Happiness

Be Flexible

Choosing to Love Life
       

Taking Oneself Lightly

Keys to a great life... taking oneself lightly, forgiveness, and acceptance.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

If we could all just laugh at ourselves,
in hard times or good times, it would be an incredible world.
- Jena Malone

Life's burdens are lighter when I laugh at myself.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

There is no defense against adverse fortune which is
so effectual as an habitual sense of humor.
- Thomas W. Higginson

Humor is mankind's greatest blessing.
- Mark Twain

Life is not a tragedy, it is a comedy.
To be alive means to have a sense of humor.
- Osho

Against the assault of laughter nothing can stand.
- Mark Twain

Further reading: Power of Laughter

Cherish the Whimsey

Having a Sense of Humor

As a Child Again 
   

Life's True Lessons Come As Riddles

Life is a riddle.
We cannot expect to understand life's twists and turns as they occur each day,
and we greatly frustrate ourselves in the futile attempt.
Be content to appreciate that there is an overarching purpose,
though that purpose be known only to God, and to history.
Choose service. Choose joy. Accept the unknowing.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

To be surprised, to wonder, is to begin to understand.
- Jose Ortega Y Gasset

We learn more by looking for the answer
to a question and not finding it
than we do from learning the answer itself.
- Lloyd Alexander

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

Half of everything you were ever taught is wrong;
the question is which half.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

The book of life is filled with incoherent riddles.
(and human nature is perhaps life's greatest riddle.)
Life's true lessons are inscribed in a corner of the margin.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Read more about The Book of Life

Further reading:  The Nature of Learning

Lessons from Life

Beyond Understanding
      

Fundamentals

Remember, no matter where you go, there you are.
- Confucius

If you do not know where you come from, then you don't know where you are,
and if you don't know where you are, then you don't know where you're going.
And if you don't know where you're going, you're probably going wrong.
- Terry Pratchett

When you jump for joy, beware that no one
moves the ground from beneath your feet.
- Stanislaw Jerszy Lec

The more one does and sees and feels, the more one is able to do,
and the more genuine may be one's appreciation
of fundamental things like home,
and love, and understanding companionship.
- Amelia Earhart

Keep your feet firmly planted on the ground
as you reach for the stars.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Honor Your Roots

Perspective on Tradition: An Open Mind

A Strong Foundation

Fulfill Your Dreams
    

Memorial Day 2020

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

Great achievement is usually born of great sacrifice,
and is never the result of selfishness.
- Napoleon Hill

Death is not extinguishing the light;
it is only putting out
the lamp because the dawn has come.
- Rabindranath Tagore

Be unselfish.
That is the first and final commandment for those who
would be useful and happy in their usefulness.
If you think of yourself only, you cannot develop because
you are choking the source of development,
which is spiritual expansion through thought for others.
- Charles William Eliot

No person was ever honored for what he received.
Honor has been the reward for what he gave.
- Calvin Coolidge

He who would accomplish much must sacrifice much.
- James Allen

Those we love don't go away,
They walk beside us every day,
Unseen, unheard, but always near,
Still loved, still missed and very dear.
- Anonymous

A hero is someone who has given his life
to something bigger than himself
or something other than himself.
- Joseph Campbell

Farewell My Friend
It was beautiful as long as it lasted
The journey of my life.
I have no regrets whatsoever
save the pain I'll leave behind.
Those dear hearts who love and care...
And the strings pulling at the heart and soul...
The strong arms that held me up
When my own strength let me down.
At every turning of my life I came across good friends,
Friends who stood by me,
Even when the time raced me by.
Farewell, farewell my friends
I smile and bid you goodbye.
No, shed no tears for I need them not
All I need is your smile.
If you feel sad do think of me
for that's what I'll like when you live in the hearts
of those you love, remember then
you never die.
- Gitanjali Ghei

When people get caught up with that which is right
and they are willing to sacrifice for it,
there is no stopping point short of victory.
- Martin Luther King, Jr.

Further reading: Coping With Loss, Grief, and Mortality

Words of Comfort on the Death of a Loved One

Going Home to God

Coping with Heartbreak

What is Honor? Is there a place for Honor today?
       

Everything is a Miracle, Give Thanks

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

Today I offer a prayer of forgiveness:
forgive the pettiness of my ingratitude...
the absence of profound thankfulness.
- Mary Anne Radmacher

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

Look at everything as though you were seeing it
either for the first or last time.
Then your time on earth will be filled with glory.
- Betty Smith

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:; Yes, YOU Can Be Happy

Gratitude for All of Life

Tending the Garden of Our Lives
    

Understand More, Fear Less

Nothing in life is to be feared, it is only to be understood.
Now is the time to understand more, so that we may fear less.
- Marie Curie

Seek To Understand, Rather Than To Fear.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Who never walks save where he sees
men's tracks, makes no discoveries.
- J. G. Holland

No pessimist ever discovered the secret of the stars,
or sailed to an uncharted land,
or opened a new doorway for the human spirit.
- Helen Keller

Seeds of great discoveries are constantly floating around us,
but they only take root in minds well prepared to receive them.
- Joseph Henry

Further reading: The Darkest Night
 
Choose To Be Fearless

From Your Own Darkness

Seek the Truth
      

Difficulties Can Be A Source Of Strength

Difficulties are meant to rouse, not discourage.
The human spirit is to grow strong by conflict.
- William Ellery Channing

There is a crack in everything, that's how the light gets in.
- Leonard Cohen

If life were predictable
it would cease to be life,
and be without flavor.
- Eleanor Roosevelt

If our world were as predictable as we believe it should be,
we would never be inspired to be creative or adventurous.
Let us give thanks that our world is designed to challenge us
and to bring out the best of the human spirit.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

The only thing that makes life possible
is permanent, intolerable uncertainty;
not knowing what comes next.
- Ursula K. Le Guin

Further reading: An Uncertain World

Progress of the Human Mind

Never Try To Stop The Music

Predictable?

Is Now a Time to be Reasonable?

Box of Chocolates
      

Faith Means Living with Uncertainty

Faith means living with uncertainty -
feeling your way through life,
letting your heart guide you like a lantern in the dark.
- Dan Millman

Mama always said life was like a box of chocolates.
You never know what you're gonna get.
- the movie Forrest Gump

The movie character Forrest Gump describing life
as being "like a box of chocolates,"
is such a positive upbeat way of
characterizing the uncertainty of life.
I have no idea what life will give me next,
but whatever it is, it will be sweet.

Welcome the Unexpected.
Most people think of surprises as being something unpleasant.
Consider moving past this instinctive fear of the unknown
and welcoming the unexpected.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Cherish the uncertainty of life's adventures.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Sometimes the things you really want sneak in the back door. Notice.
- Mary Anne Radmacher

Further reading: The Edge of All We Know

Finding A Way

Appreciate the Unexpected

Addicted to safety?
     

Release Your Burdens

Today is the tomorrow you worried about yesterday.
- Anonymous

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

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

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

The Joy is in the Journey.
- Anonymous

Further reading: Life Lessons I Learned From My Cat

Life is too important to be taken seriously

Today is Your Day (my complete poem)

Make Time For Yourself
     

Make Life Less Difficult For Each Other

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

People will forget what you said,
people will forget what you did,
but people will never forget how you made them feel.
- Maya Angelou

Those who cannot remember the past
are condemned to repeat it.
- George Santayana

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

In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies,
but the silence of our friends.
- Martin Luther King, Jr.

Cure sometimes, treat often, comfort always.
- Hippocrates

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

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

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

Blessed are those who give without remembering and take without forgetting.
- Elizabeth Bibesco

May you never forget what is worth remembering,
or remember what is best forgotten.
- Anonymous

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

Further reading: This is my wish for you...

Give Love and Comfort

True Measure of a Successful Life

Encourage Others
      

Choose Inner Peace (yes you can)

Nothing can bring you peace but yourself.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

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

If in our daily life we can smile,
if we can be peaceful and happy,
not only we, but everyone will profit from it.
This is the most basic kind of peace work.
- Thich Nhat Hanh

Breathe; let go; relax; forgive.
- Mary Anne Radmacher

It's not the situation that's causing your stress,
it's your thoughts,
and you can change that right here and now.
You can choose to be peaceful right here and now.
[Inner] Peace is a choice,
and it has nothing to do with what other people do or think.
- Gerald Jampolsky

No one can find inner peace except by working,
not in a self-centered way, but for the whole human family.
- Peace Pilgrim

Further reading: Focus on Peace

A Life of Harmony

Bring Peace

Forgiveness: Path to Inner Peace

Choose Inner Peace

The War Within Yourself
    

I Thank You God for this Most Amazing Day

I thank you God for this most amazing day,
for the leaping greenly spirits of trees
and for the blue dream of sky
and for everything which is natural,
which is infinite, which is yes.
- e. e. cummings

Thank you, God, for this good life
and forgive us if we do not love it enough.
- Garrison Keillor

Most people are more skilled at begging God than at thanking God.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Today's Affirmation:
I give thanks for the bounties of this world.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Gratitude for THIS Moment

Give Thanks and Celebrate

Thankful and Content

Give Thanks for the Commonplace
    

Shine a Light for Others

As we work to create light for others,
we naturally light our own way.
- Mary Anne Radmacher

Every charitable act is a stepping stone toward heaven.
- Henry Ward Beecher

It's about sharing.
You just give what you have to give
wherever you go,
and you let God handle the rest.
- Lindsay Wagner

Good works are links that form a chain of love.
- Mother Teresa

In service, there is clarity and compassion.
- Mary Anne Radmacher

It is high time that the ideal of success
should be replaced by the ideal of service.
- Albert Einstein

The unselfish effort to bring cheer to others
will be the beginning of a happier life for ourselves.
- Helen Keller

The path to your own happiness is usually found in service.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Become Kinder

Be of Service

Spread Love
       

It Matters What You Call Something Or Someone

When we label anyone 'bad', we will have more trouble
dealing with him than if we could have settled for a lesser label.
- William Glasser

Labels have the negative value of making smaller boundaries for people.
- Michael Graves

Labels are for cans, not people.
- Anthony Rapp

People always want to put a label on you;
they always want to compare you to something.
- Carrot Top

I try to look for the good in everybody,
regardless of the way they're labeled.
- Richard Thompson

Call a plant beautiful, and it becomes a flower.
Call it ugly, and it becomes a weed.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Read about the power of naming.

Further reading: Categorizing People

Judging Others

Perspective

See no evil, Hear no evil, Speak no evil

What Do You See?
     

Stay Alert, Look Beyond the Obvious

Not what we experience,
but how we perceive what we experience,
determines our fate.
- Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach

Stay Alert, and doors will open.
You can never know when and where a magic door will open for you,
so pay attention, stay watchful, and never give up hope.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Every problem has in it the seeds of its own solution.
If you don't have any problems, you don't get any seeds.
- Norman Vincent Peale

In the midst of difficulty lies opportunity.
- Albert Einstein

Further reading: Pay Attention

The Door Will Be Opened To You

What We Perceive
        

Feed Your Soul

The glory of gardening: hands in the dirt,
head in the sun, heart with nature.
To nurture a garden is to feed not just on the body,
but the soul.
- Alfred Austin

The goal of life is
to make your heartbeat match the beat of the universe,
to match your nature with Nature.
- Joseph Campbell

Man's heart away from nature becomes hard.
- Standing Bear

Keep close to Nature's heart...
and break clear away, once in awhile,
and climb a mountain or spend a week in the woods.
Wash your spirit clean.
- John Muir

Further reading: Renew Yourself

Set Your Rhythm

All Life

Nature's Messengers

Our Children's Earth
   

Just Breathe In, Breathe Out

Fully experience THIS moment -
breathe in, breathe out - nothing more.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

When you arise in the morning, think of what a precious
privilege it is to be alive -
to breathe,
to think, to enjoy, to love.
- Marcus Aurelius

Be Here Now
- Ram Dass

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

Further reading: Nurture Yourself Today

Give Thanks

Gratitude and Life

Be Fully Present in TODAY
     

Life Through Joyful Eyes

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

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

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

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

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

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

Further reading: Your attitude determines the quality of your life

You are the Window

Look Beyond the Cloud 
         

Mother's Day 2020

Mother is the name for God in the lips and hearts of little children.
- William Makepeace Thackeray

A mother is not a person to lean on,
but a person to make leaning unnecessary.
- Dorothy Canfield Fisher

A mother is one to whom you hurry when you are troubled.
- Emily Dickinson

God could not be everywhere, so he created mothers.
- Jewish Proverb

The heart of a mother is a deep abyss
at the bottom of which you will always find forgiveness.
- Honoré de Balzac

Honor your father and your mother.
- Exodus 20:12

Further reading: The #1 Secret of Great Relationships

A Happy Family 

What is Love?

What is a Home?

Marriage
     

Expect Nothing, Welcome Everything

When you expect nothing,
you can receive everything as a marvelous gift.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Expect nothing.
Live frugally on surprise.
- Alice Walker

Expectation is the root of all heartache.
- William Shakespeare

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

Mostly, it is human to dislike surprises -
often with great intensity.
Be open to new ways;
sometimes newness just knocks on our door;
welcome it.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Choose Joy Anyway

Know the Difference

Cheer for Endings
     

First, Understand the FACTS

Some things you can change, others you need to work with.
But the worst choice is to pretend that things aren't the way they really are.
Begin with the facts, then make your choices.

Do not rail against life. [Do not complain about life.]
Make positive contributions where you can.
Practice gracious acceptance elsewhere.
And express daily gratitude for all of life.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

If you want reality to be different than it is,
you might as well try to teach a cat to bark.
- Byron Katie

He who avoids complaint invites happiness.
- Abu Bakr

How is it that one rails against that
which is nearly a certainty?
- Mary Anne Radmacher

To deny the facts would be illogical.
- the character Spock in the television series Star Trek

Further reading: Do What You Can; Trust God With The Rest

Don't Resist Life

I Will Fear No Evil

Serenity rather than Fear
      

Provide Space for Miracles

Miracles are the natural way of the Universe -
our only job is to move our doubting minds aside
and let the miracles flow.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie
(Remember: Miracles seldom appear in the form we hope they will.
Be open to surprise gifts from God.)

Live life as if everything is rigged in your favor.
- Rumi

Once you make a decision, the universe conspires to make it happen.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

Ask and it will be given to you;
seek and you will find;
knock and the door will be opened to you.
- Matthew 7:7

Further reading: How to Stay Positive

Gratitude for THIS Moment

More about "A wonderful gift may not be wrapped as you expect"

Life Really Is Good

Recognizing Our Abundance
     

Healing, Allowing

Healing does not mean going back to the way things were before,
but rather allowing what is now to move us closer to God.
- Ram Dass

Healing yourself is connected with healing others.
- Yoko Ono

Everybody needs beauty as well as bread,
places to play in and pray in,
where nature may heal and cheer
and give strength to the body and soul.
- John Muir

Love one another and help others to rise to the higher levels,
simply by pouring out love.
Love is infectious and the greatest healing energy.
- Sai Baba

Further reading: Allow Healing

Create Forgiveness

A Tool for Healing Your Troubles
     

Seek Balance Through Perspective

Life is a balance between rest and movement.
- Osho

Find your balance and stand with it.
Find your song and sing it out.
Find your cadence and let it appear like a dance.
Find the questions that only you know how to ask and
The answers that you are content to not know.
- Mary Anne Radmacher

Balance activity with serenity,
wealth with simplicity,
persistence with innovation,
community with solitude,
familiarity with adventure,
constancy with change,
leading with following.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie
 
He who knows that enough is enough
will always have enough.
- Lao Tzu

Balance happens when I invite it to happen
with my intentional actions and my guided perspective.
- Mary Anne Radmacher

Further reading: Balance Service with Play

Tips for Stress-Free Living

Living in Harmony 

Finding Balance in Life

A Balanced Life
       

The Present Moment

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

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

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

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

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

If you are depressed you are living in the past.
If you are anxious you are living in the future.
If you are at peace you are living in the present.
- Lao Tzu

Further reading: The Futility of Regret

Gratitude for THIS Moment

Don't Wait - Begin Today

Cherish This Moment
      

Choose Inner Peace, Share Peace

No one can find inner peace except by working,
not in a self-centered way, but for the whole human family.
- Peace Pilgrim

Let there be peace on earth.
And let it begin with me.
- Jill Jackson Miller

Stop! Breathe deeply.
Begin bringing peace to the outer world
by regaining your own inner peace.
Choose love, choose gratitude,
choose forgiveness, choose peace.
Begin with your own inner peace.
Then use that inner peace
as a platform from which
to approach the outer world
with perspective, understanding, and patience.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

If you wish to experience peace, provide peace for another.
- Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama

Further reading: Peace IS the Way

Do God's Work

End Hatred

No War
      

Smile Broadly, Sing Loudly

Start today to lighten up, and start to put happiness - yours, your family's, and your friends - ahead of material success or "achievement." 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.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Life must be lived as play.
- Plato

I may be crazy, but it keeps me from going insane.
- Waylon Jennings

When I am an old woman I shall wear purple
With a red hat which doesn't go and doesn't suit me.
And I shall spend my pension on brandy and summer gloves.
- Jenny Joseph

Who made the rule that life has to be so serious?
One would think that "life is serious" had been engraved
upon stone tablets to judge from how most lives are lived.
Get a life, smile broadly, sing loudly,
paint your rooms in bold colors,
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 - dance lightly with life.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Life Lessons I Learned From My Cat

Cherish the Whimsey

Today is Your Day (my whole poem)

Life is too important to be taken seriously 

Do Something Crazy

Make Time For Yourself
    

How Little We Understand

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

From wonder into wonder existence opens.
- Lao Tzu

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

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

Wisdom begins in wonder.
- Socrates

Further reading: Appreciate the Basics of Life

All Life is a Miracle

Cherish Mystery

An Unknowable Future