Your Own Trail

Attempting to "fit in" is not a worthy objective.
There is no point in feeling sad or upset when your plans, your ideas,
or even your fundamental nature do not "fit in" with the majority view.

Be the courageous hero and stay committed to your greatest ideas and ideals,
however they are received by those around you.

Do not follow where the path may lead.
Go, instead, where there is no path and leave a trail.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

To avoid criticism, do nothing, say nothing, and be nothing.
- Elbert Hubbard

It is easy in the world to live after the world's opinions;
it is easy in solitude to live after your own;
but the great man is he who in the midst of the crowd
keeps with perfect sweetness the independence of solitude
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

Many people allow their need for other people's approval to control their lives.
They spend their lives worrying about what others think of them.
- Rick Warren

For those men who, sooner or later,
are lucky enough to break away from the pack,
the most intoxicating moment comes
when they cease being bodies in other men's command
and find that they control their own time,
when they learn their own voice and authority.
- Theodore H. White

Further reading:  Be Yourself

Believe and Take Action

Think for Yourself

Appreciate Yourself

Don Miguel Ruiz: The Four Agreements - The Wisdom of the Ages in Four Sound-Bites
     

Morality is the Principal Test of Humanity

Clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.
- Colossians 3:12

The worst sin toward our fellow creatures
is not to hate them,
but to be indifferent to them:
that's the essence of inhumanity.
- George Bernard Shaw

The test of the morality of a society is what it does for its children.
- Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Compassion is the basis of morality.
- Arthur Schopenhauer

It is my choice to care deeply about others.
No kindness is too small to be important -
the smile to the bank teller,
the sincere "thank you" for all kindnesses received,
the reassuring hand on the shoulder of a loved one or friend.
There is compassion in selfless generosity,
but there is also compassion in heartfelt empathy.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: What Does Compassion Look Like?

Full Measure of a Person

Feed the Children

Be of Service

Take Charge of Your Life - 9 Secrets for Getting Un-Stuck
       

Assumptions are Often Illusions

Everything is not as it appears to be.
- Proverb

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

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

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

A point of view can be a dangerous luxury when substituted
for insight and understanding.
- Marshall McLuhan

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

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

Belief - Point-of-View

When Life Looks Hopeless

Maybe So, Maybe Not. - Ancient Taoist Proverb
    

Choose to Spend Some Time Alone Every Day

Spend some time alone every day.
- Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama

The best remedy for those who are afraid, lonely or unhappy
is to go outside, somewhere where they can be quiet,
alone with the heavens, nature and God.
Because only then does one feel that all is as it should be.
- Anne Frank

A quiet mind cures all.
- Robert Burton

In solitude the mind gains strength and learns to lean upon itself.
- Laurence Sterne

Affirmation: Today, I Will Spend Time In Silence.

Further reading: Solitude is a Cure

Choose Inner Peace and a Less Stressful Life

Be an Open Channel

Let me bring peace

The Beat of the Universe
     

Thanksgiving Day 2020

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

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

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

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

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

Further reading: Zero-Based Gratitude

My Thoughts on Thanksgiving 

Opportunity for Daily Thanksgiving

Give Thanks for the Commonplace

Thankful and Content
    

Speak with Integrity

What we speak becomes the house we live in.
- Hafiz

Be Impeccable With Your Word.
Speak with integrity.
Say only what you mean.
Avoid using your word to speak against yourself
or to gossip about others.
Use the power of your word
in the direction of truth and love.
- don Miguel Ruiz

Every thought you think
and every word you speak
is affirming something.
- Louise L. Hay

Better than a thousand hollow words,
is one word that brings peace.
- The Buddha

Today's affirmation:
I open myself for the word of Spirit to flow through me.

Further reading: Our Character

What is Morality?

Power Tests Integrity
    

Allow Happiness, Don't Try to Force It

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

Happiness is when what you think, what you say,
and what you do are in harmony.
- Mohandas (Mahatma) Gandhi

You can not find happiness by chasing after it.
Happiness comes from doing what you love to do,
and from being who you truly are.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Happiness is the absence of the striving for happiness.
- Zhuangzi

The only reason you suffer is because you choose to suffer.
The only reason you are happy is because you choose to be happy.
Happiness is a choice, and so is suffering.
- don Miguel Ruiz

Happiness is not a brilliant climax to years of grim struggle and anxiety.
It is a long succession of little decisions
simply to be happy in the moment.
- J. Donald Walters

You don't need a reason to be happy,
just a choice.
Happiness is the Choice to be Happy in This Moment
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

One can flow harmoniously with the River of Life -
or one can struggle fearfully against the River -
and the River just flows.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: The Secret of Happiness

Ten Little Tips to Feel Happier Right Now

Simple Pleasures

How to be Happy in Life by Breaking the Cycle of Self-Inflicted Suffering

Choose To Be Happy
      

Do What You Enjoy, Enjoy What You Do

It's work only if I say it's work,
but it's play if I say it's fun.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

People rarely succeed unless they have fun in what they are doing.
- Dale Carnegie

It's kind of fun to do the impossible.
- Walt Disney

What work I have done I have done because it has been play.
If it had been work I shouldn't have done it.
- Mark Twain

If we like what we do, if we always do our best,
then we are really enjoying life.
We are having fun, we don't get bored,
we don't have frustrations.
- don Miguel Ruiz

Further reading: Cherish the Whimsey

Dream. Begin. Persevere.

Realizing Success

We Come This Way But Once

Bounce Back
      

Your Forgiveness Eases Your Own Pain

Forgiveness is unlocking the door
to set someone free
and realizing you were the prisoner!
- Max Lucado

To err is human, to forgive divine.
- Alexander Pope

Forgiveness is an act of self-love.
- don Miguel Ruiz

Resentment is a Prison.
It is not easy to forgive,
but make the effort again and again.
Nothing else you can ever do in life
will repay you as richly as forgiving
and loving those you have called enemy.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

I can only have peace of mind
when I forgive rather than judge.
- Gerald Jampolsky

Further reading: Forgiveness Releases the PastAre You The Prisoner?

Treat ALL with Goodness

The Futility of Regret
   

Your Inner Stillness and Sanctuary

Within you, there is a stillness and a sanctuary
to which you can retreat at anytime and be yourself.
- Hermann Hesse

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

Learn to become still.
And to take your attention away from what you don't want,
and all the emotional charge around it,
and place your attention on what you wish to experience.
- Michael Beckwith

In the midst of movement and chaos,
keep stillness inside of you.
- Deepak Chopra

Never let frustration or disappointment tarnish your appreciation for
all that is good in life.
Every day say Thank You to the source of all
that is good.
The essence of your true being dwells in stillness; meet yourself there.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Solitude vs. Feeling Lonely

A Mind that is Still

Keep Stillness

Breath by Breath

Know the Difference

Let Go and Accept This Moment
    

Share Your Inner Music with the World

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

Alas for those that never sing,
But die with all their music in them!
- Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.

Wherever you go, go with all your heart.
- Confucius

You can choose to follow your heart always.
- don Miguel Ruiz

Further reading: I Dreamed a Dream

Live With Enthusiasm

Think Big, Act Big

Choose to Follow Your Heart
   

Express Your Gratitude by Paying It Forward

 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Further reading: Pay It Forward - as an Expression of Universal Gratitude

Opportunity for Daily Thanksgiving

True Measure of a Successful Life

Universal Kindness and Compassion
    

Say NO to Boredom. Say YES to Both Action And Serenity

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

It is only a step from boredom to disillusionment,
which leads naturally to self-pity, which in turn ends in chaos.
- Manly Hall

When people are bored it is primarily with themselves.
- Eric Hoffer

Say NO to Boredom.
Say YES to Both Action And Serenity.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

If you're bored with life - you don't get up every
morning with a burning desire to do things -
you don't have enough goals.
- Lou Holtz

If we like what we do, if we always do our best,
then we are really enjoying life.
We are having fun, we don't get bored,
we don't have frustrations.
- don Miguel Ruiz

The two enemies of human happiness are pain and boredom.
- Arthur Schopenhauer

For those who are bored with life,
the path to happiness almost always comes
through service to the less-fortunate.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Break Old Patterns of Action

Nothing to look forward to?

Be Unstoppable

Overcome Being Negative

Discipline

Setting Goals - Taking Action
           

Other People's Expectations are NOT Your Life's Marching Orders

 

You can't base your life on other people's expectations.
- Stevie Wonder

Question every assumption and expectation.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

It is a better thing to weigh and measure priorities
in the illuminating light of your own mission
than to have your activities formed by the
impressions and expectations of others.
- Mary Anne Radmacher

"You always..." and "you never..." are code phrases for
"you don't meet my expectations, so I am declaring you inadequate and unacceptable."
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

People see you as an object, not as a person,
and they project a set of expectations onto you.
- Candice Bergen

Other People's Expectations are NOT Your Life's Marching Orders.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

[Your inner] Peace is a choice,
and it has nothing to do with
what other people do or think.
- Gerald Jampolsky

Take time to contemplate -
away from the opinions and influence of others -
what you really want
and what you believe to be important in your life.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Choice, Not Obligation

A Choice for Joy

Value Your Self Respect

Criticism and Complaint
      

Accept Your Friends' Imperfections

To the people who love you, you are beautiful already.
This is not because they’re blind to your shortcomings
but because they so clearly see your soul.
- Victoria Moran

Real love is accepting other people the way they are
without trying to change them.
- don Miguel Ruiz

In true friendship, one can express
anything and everything without feeling ashamed
or afraid of being rejected.
- Aparna Chatterjee

Appreciate your friends.
Grant them the freedom to be lovable, but fully imperfect.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Accept Your Friends' Uniqueness

Like Angels

Encourage Me
Appreciating Friends
      

Raise the Sails and Keep the Faith

This is the day which the Lord has made;
we will rejoice and be glad in it.

- Psalms 118:24

Patience, persistence, and perseverance.
A little more each day, a little better each day.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Our faith gives us knowledge of something better.
- E. F. Schumacher

The winds of grace are always blowing;
all we need to do is raise our sails.

- Anonymous

God provides the wind, Man must raise the sail.
- Saint Augustine

Further reading: The Edge of All You Know

The True Measure of a Successful Life

Simply Do Your Best

Faith in the Goodness of Humanity
    

Never Try to Change Anyone Other than Yourself

We cause ourselves untold misery whenever we believe
others to be imperfect and try to change them.
You have no ability whatsoever to change anyone other than yourself.
You can only cause yourself great suffering if you try.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

The true secret of giving advice is,
after you have honestly given it,
to be perfectly indifferent whether it is taken or not,
and never persist in trying to set people right.
- Henry Ward Beecher

Unsolicited Advice Is Always Meddling.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie
Read my thoughts on meddling in the affairs of others.

It is an easy thing for one whose foot is on the outside
of calamity to give advice and to rebuke the sufferer.
- Aeschylus

Advice is seldom welcome,
and those who "need" it the most, like it the least.
- Lord Chesterfield

Further reading: The Problem with Advice
Live and Let Live

The #1 Secret of Great Relationships

Don't Take It Personally
      

Make Choices that Support Your Dreams

Choose in ways that support your dreams.
- Mary Anne Radmacher

In the long run, we shape our lives, and we shape ourselves.
The process never ends until we die.
And the choices we make are ultimately our own responsibility.

- Eleanor Roosevelt

Sharpen your pencil as you create the story of your life.
Ask today as you consider the many choices in your view -
what is the highest and best use of your talents, skills and abilities?
When you answer that, seize the opportunity to sharpen
those qualities even more sharply by applying your focused effort.
- Mary Anne Radmacher

The big question is whether you are going to be able
to say a hearty yes to your adventure.
- Joseph Campbell

Further reading: Choose to Soar

Pursue Your Dreams

Choosing a Joyful Life

Personal Boundaries

      

Live Your Life with No Regrets and No Resentments

 

Live life with no regrets and no resentments.
Whatever happened in the past,
forgive yourself and others. Choose love.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

For all sad words of tongue and pen,
The saddest are these, "It might have been."
- John Greenleaf Whittier

I rest in the light of forgiveness.
I forgive myself and others for that
which is done (and better left undone)
and also that which is not done (and better if done).
I give myself permission to enjoy this moment without guilt.
I freely release all uncertainty, regret, and fear.
- Mary Anne Radmacher

Further reading: Learn To Get Over Regrets And Resentments

Never Second Guess Yourself

Forgiveness Releases the Past
    

Veterans Day 2020

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

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

War settles nothing.
- Dwight D. Eisenhower

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

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

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

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

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

Further reading: Stop Trying to Grasp at "Security" 

Watch What You Pray For
Honorable Paths to Noble Goals
      

Just Do Your Best

Give the world the best you have
and it may never be enough.
Give the world your best anyway.
- Kent Keith (frequently attributed to Mother Teresa)

Simply do your best, and you will avoid
self-judgment, self-abuse and regret.
- don Miguel Ruiz

Success has a simple formula: do your best, and people may like it.
- Sam Ewing

Success comes from knowing that
you did your best to become the best
that you are capable of becoming.
- John Wooden

Today's affirmation:
I will do my best...
and then relax in the knowing
that I have done all I could.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Take Charge of Your Life

Play to Win, but be a Good Loser

DO IT

Ignore Your Critics
    

LISTEN and then make Your Own Choices

Since you are the one who has to live with your choices,
be sure they are your own.
- Alan Cohen

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

Don't follow any advice, no matter how good,
until you feel as deeply in your spirit as you think
in your mind that the counsel is wise.
- Joan Rivers

The ultimate authority must always rest
with the individual's own reason and critical analysis.
- Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama

Each man is the architect of his own fate.
- Appius Claudius

Don't believe me.
I don't want you to believe me
but I want you to listen and make choices - your choices.
If what I say, doesn't work for you, leave it.
But if it works for you and that's what you want, then make it yours.
- don Miguel Ruiz

Further reading: To Thine Own Self Be True

Don't Take It Personally

Encourage Me

True to Your Best
    

Pray For Those Who Have Wronged You

Love people who hate you. Pray for people who have wronged you.
It won’t just change their life, it will change yours.
- Mandy Hale

You have heard that it was said,
"Love your neighbor and hate your enemy."
But I tell you: Love your enemies
and pray for those who persecute you.
- Jesus (Matthew 5:43-44)

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

Am I not destroying my enemies when I make friends of them?
- Abraham Lincoln

The practice of forgiveness is our most important
contribution to the healing of the world.
- Marianne Williamson

If you want to make peace with your enemy,
you have to work with your enemy.
Then he becomes your partner.
- Nelson Mandela

Further reading: Go and Do Likewise
 
Life is a Reflection

Fear and Love Categorizing People

On the Unworkability of Vengeance
         

Safeguarding the Rights of Others

To be free is not merely to cast off one's chains,
but to live in a way that respects
and enhances the freedom of others.

- Nelson Mandela

When the rights of any group, no matter how small, no matter how marginal,
are violated, your liberty, your freedom is put at risk.
Let there never be a day when we cast about in horror
and have to ask the question, "How did it ever come to this?"
- Thomas Childers

Safeguarding the rights of others is the most noble
and beautiful end of a human being.
- Khalil Gibran

The end does NOT justify the means.
Freedom cannot be gained by sacrificing the freedom of others.
Free speech cannot be gained by limiting the free speech of others.
Human rights cannot be secured by trampling the human rights of others.
Viciousness in others cannot be fought by becoming vicious oneself.
Neither individual nor nation can long survive by meeting hatred with hatred,

injustice with injustice, prejudice with prejudice.

Freedom Demands Freedom for All
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Those who deny freedom to others deserve it not for themselves.
- Abraham Lincoln

Further reading: Independence - Liberty - Freedom

Force

Honorable Paths to Noble Goals

    

Don't Give In to Worry and Frustration

Whether we allow external events to shape our lives
at a core level is very much within our own control.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

All that is necessary to break the spell
of inertia and frustration is this:
Act as if it were impossible to fail.
- Dorthea Brande

Our fatigue is often caused not by work,
but by worry, frustration and resentment.
- Dale Carnegie

Fatigue makes cowards of us all.
- Vince Lombardi

3 Rs that Plague Humanity - Regret, Resentment, and Revenge.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

It is hardly possible to build anything,
if frustration, bitterness and a mood of helplessness prevail.
- Lech Walesa

Further reading: Find Peace in Forgiveness

Live a Stress-Free Life

Feeling Stuck?

How to Think Positive

Renew Yourself
      

Your Inner Voice is Your Compass

Everyone who wills, can hear the inner voice.
It is within everyone.

- Mohandas (Mahatma) Gandhi

Listen to the compass of your heart.

All you need lies within you.
- Mary Anne Radmacher

Have the courage to follow your heart and intuition -
they somehow already know what you truly want to become.
- Steve Jobs

Your inner knowing is your only true compass.
- Joy Page

Further reading: Feel Your Connection With the Infinite - a Meditation

Three Rules of Life

Ask from a Compassionate Heart
      

Judge Reality, Not Appearance

Men in general judge more from
appearances than from reality.
All men have eyes, but few have
the gift of penetration.

- Niccolo Machiavelli

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

- Alan Watts

The work of science is to substitute facts for appearances,
and demonstrations for impressions.
- John Ruskin

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

(based on Jeremiah 5:21)

Trust not too much to appearances.
- Virgil

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

Hope and Fear Cloud Our Vision.

We do not always see what is before our face -
sometimes we see what we hope to see,
or what we fear we will see.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Art of Seeing

Listen, Really Listen

What We Perceive

Observe Life

           

VOTE Today! Election Day 2020

VOTE TODAY!!! (if you haven't already voted)
PLEASE remind your family and friends to vote!
Please offer to help others get to the polls today!
Voting is an expression of INTENT. Intent is a powerful energetic force.
Our INTENT for the future of our world is the greatest power we can ever control - use it wisely and fully.

CHOOSE your future, and take ACTION - be the hammer, not the nail. VOTE!!!
Do you want to know who you are? Don't ask. Act!
Action will delineate and define you.
- Thomas Jefferson

Bad politicians are sent to Washington by good people who don't vote.
- William E. Simon

If humanity does not opt for integrity, we are through completely.
It is absolutely touch and go.
Each one of us could make the difference.
- R. Buckminster Fuller

Voting is an expression of three key life principles -
CHOICE, INTENT, and ACTION.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie
Our lives begin to end the day we become silent
about things that matter.
- Martin Luther King, Jr.

Further reading: You Are What You Do

Walk Your Path

Either Accept It, or Change It

True Measure of a Successful Life
    

What You Know For Sure That Just Ain't So

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)

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

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

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

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

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

Everything is not as it appears to be.
- Proverb

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"

Further reading: Question Your Questions

The Illusion of Knowledge

Maybe So, Maybe Not.

Expectations

Truth isn't True

Assumptions
     

See Light and Joy in Everything and Give Thanks

Gratitude is the inward feeling of kindness received.
Thankfulness is the natural impulse to express that feeling.
Thanksgiving is the following of that impulse.

- Henry Van Dyke

The miracle of gratitude is that it shifts your perception
to such an extent that it changes the world you see.
- Robert Holden

None is more impoverished than the one who has no gratitude.
Gratitude is a currency that we can mint for ourselves,
and spend without fear of bankruptcy.
- Fred De Witt Van Amburgh

Our opportunity is to Soar our Spirit.

To see Light and Joy in everything.
To spread our wings and fly boldly.
To give thanks for rainbows and butterflies -
our symbols of renewal and rebirth.
To offer daily Thanksgiving - for ourselves, our family,
our friends, our community, for the whole world.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: The Miracle of Gratitude

Give Thanks for the Commonplace

Appreciate Today

Gratitude for THIS Moment