Rainbows and Butterflies

Lighten up, have a rainbows and butterflies kind of day.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

May a rainbow run beside you in a sky that's always blue.
And may happiness fill your heart each day your whole life through.
- Irish Blessing

Your attitude is like a box of crayons that color your world.
Constantly color your picture gray, and your picture will always be bleak.
Try adding some bright colors to the picture by including humor,
and your picture begins to lighten up.
- Allen Klein

The only limits in our life are those we impose on ourselves.
- Bob Proctor

The best portion of a good man's life
is his little, nameless, unremembered
acts of kindness and of love.
- William Wordsworth

Further reading: Cherish the Whimsey

Life as Play

Boldly Paint Your Life

Simple Living and Small Pleasures
      

Change How You Look at Things

One's destination is never a place but rather a new
way of looking at things.
- Henry Miller

Happiness is not a destination. It is a method of life.
- Burton Hills

Life is a continuity always and always.
There is no final destination it is going towards.
Just the pilgrimage, just the journey in itself is life,
not reaching to some point,
no goal - just dancing and being in pilgrimage,
moving joyously, without bothering about any destination.
- Osho

I don't believe people are looking for the meaning of life
as much as they are looking for the experience of being alive.
- Joseph Campbell

What I am looking for is not out there, it is in me.
- Helen Keller

Further reading: Purpose and Direction

Through the Eyes of Another

Where You're Going
    

Don't Hurry Through Life

No good comes from hurrying.
- Yiddish Proverb

Haste is blind and improvident.
- Titus Livius (Livy)

He who sows hurry reaps indigestion.
- Robert Louis Stevenson

When you feel the need to hurry,
remember that everything in life is a CHOICE.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Most men pursue pleasure with such breathless haste
that they hurry past it.
- Soren Kierkegaard

Take time to laugh.
It is the music of the soul.
- Anonymous

"Hurry up" ranks right up there with "you need to"
as a destroyer of our humanity.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Rivers know this: there is no hurry. We shall get there some day.
- A. A. Milne (Winnie-The-Pooh)

Patience is an ever present alternative
to the mind's endemic restlessness and impatience.
Scratch the surface of impatience and what you will find
lying beneath it, subtly or not so subtly, is anger.
It's the strong energy of not wanting things to be the way they are
and blaming someone (often yourself) or something for it.
This doesn't mean you can't hurry when you have to.
It is possible even to hurry patiently, mindfully,
moving fast because you have chosen to.
- Jon Kabat-Zinn

Today's Affirmation:
Slowly and Deeply, I Inhale a Calming Breath.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Choose Inner Peace and a Less Stressful Life

Seven Tips for Stress-Free Living

Tending the Garden of Our Lives

The Wisdom of Patience
   

It is always a good day to be grateful for all of life

Count your blessings - not your troubles.
- Dale Carnegie

In a society that has you counting money, pounds, calories, and steps,
be a rebel and count your blessings instead.
- Rev. Lisa Heckman

It is always a good day to be grateful for all of life -
grateful for large blessings and small.
Especially to be grateful for the symbolic blessings -
the rainbows and butterflies that come into our lives
when we least expect and most need them.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

If only the people who worry about their liabilities
would think about the riches they do possess,
they would stop worrying.
- Dale Carnegie

Further reading: Step Back, Gain Perspective

Beyond Worries

May You Be Blessed
    

Always Do What's Right

The greatest way to live with honor in this world
is to be what we pretend to be.
- Socrates

Reputation is what other people know about you.
Honor is what you know about yourself.
- Lois McMaster Bujold

The truth of the matter is that
you always know the right thing to do.
The hard part is doing it.
- Gen. Norman Schwarzkoff

You will never do anything in this world without courage.
It is the greatest quality of the mind next to honor.
- Aristotle

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.

All the great things are simple,
and many can be expressed in a single word:
freedom, justice, honor, duty, mercy, hope.
- Winston Churchill

Be sure you put your feet in the right place, then stand firm.
- Abraham Lincoln

Never let your sense of morals
get in the way of doing what's right.
- Isaac Asimov

Read: What is Moral versus What is Right

Do what you feel in your heart to be right.
You'll be criticized anyway.
- Eleanor Roosevelt

Whatever your friends and family do,
Always do what you know is right.
...
If it's Right, stand up for it - together.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Live with Honor

Be yourself. Honor yourself.

Is there a place for Honor today?
         

Be a First Rate YOU

Always be a first-rate version of yourself,
instead of a second-rate version of somebody else.
- Judy Garland

To free us from the expectations of others,
to give us back to ourselves -
there lies the great singular power of self-respect.
- Joan Didion

Everyone should carefully observe which way his heart draws him,
and then choose that way with all his strength.
- Hasidic Saying

Be simply yourself and don't compare or compete.
- Lao Tzu

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

Further reading: Have Confidence in Yourself

Trust Your Own Advice

Believe in Yourself

Think for Yourself
       

What You Do for Others

The true measure of success in life is how many other lives you made better.
- Jeff Hoffman

To laugh often and much;
to win the respect of intelligent people
and the affection of children,
to leave the world a better place,
to know even one life has breathed easier
because you have lived,
this is to have succeeded.
- Bessie A. Stanley (commonly attributed to Ralph Waldo Emerson)

Almost nothing you worry about today
will matter in a hundred years.
Think carefully about what you can focus on today.
Choose tasks that will actually make a positive difference
to your great-grandchildren.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Life is no brief candle to me.
It is a sort of splendid torch
which I have got a hold of for the moment,
and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible
before handing it on to future generations.
- George Bernard Shaw

It is not what we get.
But who we become, what we contribute...
that gives meaning to our lives.
- Tony Robbins

Further reading: Serve Others

Pass the Torch

To Live, Not Merely To Exist

Recognize Our Abundance
     

Re-examine all that you have been told

Re-examine all that you have been told...
dismiss that which insults your soul.
- Walt Whitman

You are a product of your environment.
So choose the environment that will best develop you toward your objective.
Analyze your life in terms of its environment.
Are the things around you helping you toward success -
or are they holding you back?
- W. Clement Stone

Know thyself, and thou shalt know the Universe and God.
- Pythagoras

To know your ruling passion, examine your castles in the air.
- Richard Whately

We need quiet time to examine our lives openly and honestly -
spending quiet time alone gives your mind an opportunity
to renew itself and create order.
- Susan Taylor

The unexamined life is not worth living.
- Socrates

Further reading: A Truly Successful Life

To Live, Not Merely To Exist

What Is Success?

What You Become
    

The Power of Positive Affirmations

Definition of "Affirmation" as used here: "Something that may not be true yet, but that I want to be true (usually about myself) and that I am working to make true."  For example, "Every day, I repeat the same positive affirmation of my worth as a person."

The following are all positive affirmations...

Today I choose the higher road -
the path of charity, acceptance,
love, selflessness, kindness.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

I am not a slave to my thoughts or emotions.
- Richard Carlson

I rest in the light of forgiveness.
- Mary Anne Radmacher

I am one with the power and wisdom of the Universe.
I have all that I need.
- Louise L. Hay

I come to life with an Open Mind,
Clean Hands, and a Loving Heart.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Standing in the inspiring vision of my future,
I boldly take every step - large and small -
with courage and intent.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

I am at Peace with myself,
my family, my community, and the world.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Every day in every way I am getting better and better.
- Anonymous

Please take a look at my collection of positive affirmations, and consider subscribing to receive one each day.
www.jonathanlockwoodhuie.com
        

Praise and Celebrate

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

The more you praise and celebrate your life,
the more there is in life to celebrate.
- Oprah Winfrey

The path to happiness is forgiveness of everyone
and gratitude for everything.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

He is a wise man who does not grieve
for the things which he has not,
but rejoices for those which he has.
- Epictetus

Celebrate! Celebration is an expression of Gratitude.
Gratitude is like the prayer, while
Celebration is the hymn and sacred dance.
Celebration is its own road to happiness.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

We can only be said to be truly alive in those moments
when our hearts are conscious of our treasures.
- Thornton Wilder

Further reading: Attitude of Gratitude

To Feel Blessed

A List of Gratitudes

Zero-Based Gratitude
    

Choose to Live with Honor

Reputation is what other people know about you.
Honor is what you know about yourself.
- Lois McMaster Bujold

If you doubt the virtue in self-honor,
remember what the flight attendant says,
"Put your own oxygen mask on first."
You are of no use to anyone else
if you have not taken care of your own needs first -
this includes your own emotional,
as well as physical, well-being.
In addition, your greatest value to your children,
your family, your friends, and your community
is the example you set, leading a great life that inspires
those around you to emulate your being.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Self-respect is often mistaken for arrogance
when in reality it is the opposite.
When we can recognize all our good qualities
as well as our faults with neutrality,
we can start to appreciate ourselves
as we would a dear friend
and experience the comfortable inner glow of respect.
- Osho

This above all, to thine own self be true.
- William Shakespeare
[Be true to your own values - live an honorable life.]

Further reading: To Earn a Good Name

Either Accept It, or Change It

Treat ALL with Goodness

At the Center of Your Being
        

It is Our Actions that Define Us

Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren,
ye have done it unto me.
- Matthew 25:40

Before you speak to me about your religion,
   first show it to me in how you treat other people;
before you tell me how much you love your God,
   show me in how much you love all His children;
before you preach to me of your passion for your faith,
   teach me about it through your compassion for your neighbors.
In the end, I'm not as interested in what you have to tell or sell
   as in how you choose to live and give.
- Cory Booker

We do not need to proselytize
either by our speech or by our writing.
We can only do so really with our lives.
Let our lives be open books for all to study.
- Mohandas (Mahatma) Gandhi

A good example is the best sermon.
- Benjamin Franklin

No man stands so tall as when he stoops to help a child.
- Abraham Lincoln (attributed)

Your example is far more influential and inspiring
than any words of instruction, or threats,
or even words of encouragement.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

If your actions inspire others to dream more,
learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.
- John Quincy Adams

Further reading: God Calls Us To Help Others

Lead by Example

Hypocrisy, Perhaps the Greatest Sin

A Look at Religion
        

Forgiveness Creates Space for a New Tomorrow

Forgiveness does not change the past,
but it does enlarge the future.
- Paul Boese

Forgiveness is the key to happiness.
- A Course In Miracles

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

Forgiveness Creates Space for a New Tomorrow.
Forgiving Others Grants You Peace.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Forgive All From Your Heart

Forgiving Sets You Free

Burning Away Old Regrets and Resentments

Helping is what Life is About
     

Take a quiet moment for yourself

Pause to smell the roses, to breathe, to take a quiet moment for yourself.
Let today be a day to remember that you get to CHOOSE how you spend your time.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

The quieter you become,
the more you can hear.
- Ram Dass

Listen or your tongue will keep you deaf.
- Native American Proverb

There is more to life than increasing its speed.
- Mohandas (Mahatma) Gandhi

Spend time every day listening to what your muse is trying to tell you.
- Saint Bartholomew

In prayerful silence you must look into your own heart.
No one can tell you better than yourself what comes between you and God.
Ask yourself.
Then listen!
- Johannes Tauler

Create Some Quiet Time Today.

Further reading: God is Found in Silence

The Beat of the Universe

The Quiet Voice of Courage

Your Intuition is Your Guide

Quiet Time
   

Breathe Deeply - Become Centered

Breathe deeply and slowly. Let yourself become centered - shutting out distractions. Breathe in eternal peace, and let your body fill with unconditional love.

At the center of your being you have the answer;
you know who you are and you know what you want.
- Lao Tzu

A mind at peace, a mind centered and not focused on harming others,
is stronger than any physical force in the universe.
- Wayne Dyer

When you become centered, suddenly there is great freedom
because you know you are not the mind and you are not the body.
- Osho

Further reading: Five 30-Second Emotional Releases to De-Stress at Work
     

A Few Caring People

When we are no longer able to change a situation -
we are challenged to change ourselves.
- Viktor E. Frankl (Nazi concentration camp survivor)

Nothing splendid has ever been achieved except by those who dared
believe that something inside of them was superior to circumstance.
- Bruce Barton

I don't think of all the misery
but of the beauty that still remains.
- Anne Frank

I know God will not give me anything I can't handle.
I just wish he didn't trust me so much.
- Mother Teresa

I Believe In Peace; I Believe In Mercy.
- Malala Yousafzai (shot by the Taliban in 2012 for advocating education for girls)

Despite everything, I believe that people are really good at heart.
- Anne Frank (died in Nazi concentration camp)

Today's affirmation:
I believe in the goodness of people.
I believe in my own inner strength.

Never believe that a few caring people can't change the world.
For, indeed, that's all who ever have.
- Margaret Mead

Further reading: Mother Teresa prayer

Not A Victim

Anne Frank
     

Learn from the Past

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

Who has fully realized that history
is not contained in thick books
but lives in our very blood?
- Carl Jung

There are recurring cycles, ups and downs,
but the course of events is essentially the same, with small variations.
It has been said that history repeats itself.
This is perhaps not quite correct; it merely rhymes.
- Theodor Reik (sometimes falsely attributed to Mark Twain)

Study the past, if you would divine the future.
- Confucius

The importance of history is in its
educational value for our lives today,
not in regret, resentment, or revenge.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie
    

Welcome Changing Seasons

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
      

Leave the Past in the Past

 

What's done is done.
- William Shakespeare

All life is change.
Release your attachment to the way things have been,
and wend your way joyfully
through life's unfolding majesty.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

There's a trick to the Graceful Exit.
It begins with the vision to recognize when a job, a life stage,
a relationship is over - and to let go.
It means leaving what's over without denying its value.
- Ellen Goodman

Stop holding on to the past.
1) Release your regrets about whatever you may have done or failed to do that turned out poorly.
2) Forgive others for whatever they may have done or failed to do that caused you harm.
3) 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

Before moving on, you have to clear away your cherished beliefs.
- Dick Raymond

Further reading: Let Go of Your Attachment to Your Plans

Illusions Lost

A Better Plan

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

Give Thanks for Your Life

With gratitude, all life appears as a blessing -
without gratitude, all of life
is perceived as a burden.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

When you arise in the morning,
give thanks for the morning light, for your life and strength.
Give thanks for your food, and the joy of living.
If you see no reason for giving thanks, the fault lies with yourself.
- Tecumseh

We tend to forget that happiness doesn't
come as a result of getting something we don't have,
but rather of recognizing and appreciating what we do have.
- Frederick Koenig

Further reading: Giving Thanks for Our Food

What do you take for granted?

Celebrating the Small Miracles of Our Lives

My Glass of Life
    

Don't Stop

True courage is taking another small step each day
toward achieving your vision.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

You make a mistake, you keep going.
- Linda Gray

Keep moving. Don't stop. But don't rush.
Don't race around.
Sure and steady gets you there every time.
- Neale Donald Walsch

Life is like riding a bicycle.
To keep your balance you must keep moving.
- Albert Einstein

Achievement seems to be connected with action.
Successful men and women keep moving.
They make mistakes, but they don't quit.
- Conrad Hilton

Further reading: You Can Do It

One More Mile

Be Unstoppable
         

Believe

Believe in the goodness of life.
Believe in the power of time to heal and to renew.
Believe in the power of forgiveness and gratitude.
Believe in the gift of rainbows and butterflies.
Believe in the laughter of children.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Being part of the natural world reminds me
that innocence isn't ever lost completely;
we just need to maintain our goodness to regain it.
- Jewel

Believe in love.
Believe in magic.
Believe in others.
Believe in yourself.
Believe in your dreams.
If you don't, who will?
- Jon Bon Jovi

Be open to the goodness of life -
even in the midst of apparent adversity.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Natural Goodness

Our Opportunity

Renewing Yourself

Believe in Humanity
    

The Mind that is Still

To the mind that is still,
the whole universe surrenders.
- Lao Tzu

Being wakeful in each and every moment of your life is meditation.
The simplest definition of meditation is:
when seeing, just see; when hearing, just hear.
- Josh Baran

Walking is Zen, sitting is Zen.
Then what will be the quality?
Watchfully alert, joyously unmotivated,
centered, loving, flowing, one walks.
And the walking is sauntering.
Loving, alert, watchful, one sits, unmotivated -
not sitting for anything in particular,
just enjoying how beautiful
just sitting doing nothing is,
how relaxing, how restful.
- Osho

To manage your mind,
know that there is nothing,
and then relinquish all attachment to nothingness.
- Lao Tzu

"Beginner Mind" is a Zen Buddhist term
that describes moving past our assumptions
of the nature of our life,
and really SEEING our surroundings -
especially the people we interact with -
with new eyes.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Managing Your Wayward Mind

Breathe In, Breathe Out

Opening Your Mind

The World is a Paradox

Stay Adaptable
    

The Hidden Truth

When a thing is funny, search it for a hidden truth.
- George Bernard Shaw

Life has its own hidden forces which you can only discover by living.
- Soren Kierkegaard

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

By and large, language is a tool for concealing the truth.
- George Carlin

Can you let go of words and ideas,
attitudes and expectations?
If so, then the Tao will loom into view.
- Lao Tzu

Further reading: Life is a Riddle

Accept that Life is Complex and Contradictory
    

How to Cope with Overwhelm...

A hero is an ordinary individual
who finds the strength to persevere
and endure in spite of overwhelming obstacles.
- Christopher Reeve

If we don't see a failure as a challenge to modify our approach,
but rather as a problem with ourselves, as a personality defect,
we will immediately feel overwhelmed.
- Anthony Robbins

Feeling sorry for yourself, and your present condition,
is not only a waste of energy
but the worst habit you could possibly have.
- Dale Carnegie

Improve what you can
and accept all the rest of life
just as it comes.
Know that fear is your worst enemy -
perhaps your only enemy.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

When you feel overwhelmed...

1. Ask yourself, "What is the smallest list of tasks that I MUST accomplish TODAY?"
2. Work on that short list right now. Don't be afraid to ask for help.
3. Don't worry about anything not on the short list. Read How to Stop Worrying if you need help with this.
4. Don't blame yourself for feeling overwhelmed, for having gotten yourself into this situation, or for anything else. If you have failed at some task, that does not make you-the-person a failure. If you need help getting in touch with your own worthiness read How to Feel Good About Yourself.

Further reading: How to Cope with Loneliness

All Life is a Risk

How to Feel Better About Yourself

Don't Borrow Trouble

How to Gain Self Confidence
      

Money and success don’t change people; they merely amplify

Money and success don’t change people;
they merely amplify what is already there.
- Will Smith

Nearly all men can stand adversity,
but if you want to test a man's character, give him power.
- attributed to Abraham Lincoln

People do not seem to realize that
their opinion of the world
is also a confession of character.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

Force always attracts men of low morality.
- Albert Einstein

Watch your thoughts, for they become words.
Watch your words, for they become actions.
Watch your actions, for they become habits.
Watch your habits, for they become character.
Watch your character, for it becomes your destiny.
- Anonymous

Power is of two kinds. One is obtained by the fear of punishment
and the other by acts of love. Power based on love
is a thousand times more effective and permanent
then the one derived from fear of punishment.
- Mohandas (Mahatma) Gandhi

You can easily judge the character of others
by how they treat those who can
do nothing for them or to them.
- Malcolm S. Forbes

Be more concerned with your character than your reputation.
- John Wooden

Our character is what we do when we think no one is looking.
- H. Jackson Brown, Jr.

Further reading: Your Most Important Values

Who You Are

A Place for Honor

Do What You Know Is Right

Taking Action About Things That Matter
      

Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored

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

Everyone has a right to his own opinion, but no one has a right to be wrong in his facts.
- Bernard M. Baruch

Approach each new problem not with a view of finding what you hope will be there,
but to get the truth, the realities that must be grappled with.
You may not like what you find. In that case you are entitled to try to change it.
But do not deceive yourself as to what you do find to be the facts of the situation.
- Bernard M. Baruch

We want the facts to fit the preconceptions.
When they don't, it is easier to ignore the facts
than to change the preconceptions.
- Jessamyn West

Get the facts first.
You can distort them later.
- Mark Twain

Further reading: Begin with the FACTS

The Fun-House Mirrors Of Our Own Point Of View

Re-examine all that you have been told

Never Stop Learning
        

Nothing pains some people more than having to think

Nothing in all the world is more dangerous
than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.
- Martin Luther King, Jr.

Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.
- Martin Luther King, Jr.

Rarely do we find men who willingly engage in hard, solid thinking.
There is an almost universal quest
for easy answers and half-baked solutions.
Nothing pains some people more than having to think.
- Martin Luther King, Jr.

We must develop and maintain the capacity to forgive.
He who is devoid of the power to forgive
is devoid of the power to love.
There is some good in the worst of us
and some evil in the best of us.
When we discover this, we are less prone to hate our enemies.
- Martin Luther King, Jr.

Cowardice asks the question - is it safe?
Expediency asks the question - is it politic?
Vanity asks the question - is it popular?
But conscience asks the question - is it right?
And there comes a time when one must take a position
that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular;
but one must take it BECAUSE it is right.
- Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Further reading: Gain Peace Through Peace

The First Step in Faith

Serve Others

Hate Returns Upon Itself
      

The World is Incomprehensible

As soon as man does not take his existence for granted,
but beholds it as something unfathomably mysterious,
thought begins.
- Albert Schweitzer

God is not what you imagine,
or what you think you understand.
If you understand you have failed.
- Saint Augustine

Be thankful that life is a mystery.
There is so much we can never know.
Breathe deeply and relax into the not-knowing.
There is much that we do not have to know in order to live joyfully.
We Can Never Understand Our World, But We Can Still Enjoy It.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

The world is incomprehensible.
We won't ever understand it;
we won't ever unravel its secrets.
Thus we must treat the world as it is:
a sheer mystery.
- Carlos Castaneda

Uncertainty that comes from knowledge
(knowing what you don't know)
is different from uncertainty coming from ignorance.
- Isaac Asimov

Further reading: Wonder and Mystery

Pause to Wonder

Cherish Mystery

Life: Mystery and Riddle