Stop Deceiving Yourself

 

 You can't know your real mind as long as you deceive yourself.
- Bodhidharma

He who knows others is wise.
He who knows himself is enlightened.
- Lao Tzu

Find out what you don't want to know about yourself,
what you're afraid of.
- Linda Evans

How strange that, although we dwell within ourselves,
we seldom know what we truly want
or what we truly believe about important matters.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Trust yourself. You know more than you think you do.
- Benjamin Spock

Further reading: At the center of your being you have the answer

Be Simply Yourself

Know Thyself

Follow Your Bliss
      

Compassion For ALL

 

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

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

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

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

Further reading: Keep the Golden Rule

Feed the Hungry

The Universal Sacrament of Compassion

True Measure of a Successful Life
   

Something to Ponder...

There are trivial truths and there are great truths.
The opposite of a trivial truth is plainly false.
The opposite of a great truth is also true.
- Niels Bohr

Niels Bohr, the great Danish physicist who received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1922 for his fundamental contributions to the understanding of atomic structure and quantum mechanics, is making a point that is very Zen - or very Taoist if one prefers.

An example of a "great truth" for which the opposite is also true is the statement, "You are not your body; you are not your mind." While it is very true, if one so believes, that the "real you" is neither physical nor mental, it is simultaneously true that your body and your mind are very real, and ignoring their reality is likely to cause great suffering.

Another example of a "great truth" is the Golden Rule. It is true that we should treat others as we wish to be treated in the sense of being kind and compassionate to everyone. Yet the opposite of the Golden Rule is also true in the sense that it is kind and compassionate to recognize that everyone is called to a different life path and to honor those differences.

[As always, the purpose of these daily messages to provide something to think about, rather than to attempt to dictate conclusions.]

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

Prejudice is a burden that confuses the past,
threatens the future and renders the present inaccessible.
- Maya Angelou

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

The words of truth are always paradoxical.
- Lao Tzu

Further reading: What is "The Truth?"

To Keep the Golden Rule

What You're Sure You Know, But Don't

The Golden Rule is Not Always Golden
    

Your Anger Takes Someting from YOU

 

Anger is a killing thing:
it kills the man who angers,
for each rage leaves him less than he had been before -
it takes something from him.
- Louis L'Amour

Being angry is as close as a human being
can come to experiencing hell on earth.
Pause. Breathe deeply. Step back and look at the issue from a new perspective.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Anger is like a thorn in the heart.
- Yiddish Proverb

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

There was never an angry man that thought his anger unjust.
- Saint Francis de Sales

Further reading: Stop Anger Before It Stops You

De-Stress Your Life

Anger is a Killing Thing

Never Speak while Angry

Overcoming Anger
     

Take time today to appreciate beauty

Never lose an opportunity of seeing anything beautiful,
for beauty is God's handwriting.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

Take time today to appreciate beauty -
natural beauty, art, people.
Slow down, breathe deeply, smile.
It's a beautiful world.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Forests, lakes, and rivers,
clouds and winds, stars and flowers,
stupendous glaciers and crystal snowflakes -
every form of animate or inanimate existence,
leaves its impress upon the soul of man.
- Orison Swett Marden

In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks.
- John Muir

All are but parts of one stupendous whole,
Whose body Nature is, and God the soul.
- Alexander Pope

Further reading: Healing in Nature

The Melody Within Your Soul

Tending the Garden of Our Lives

The Beat of the Universe
    

YOU make a difference to the world

YOU make a difference to the world.

Act on your dreams today.

- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

It is not the easy or convenient life for which I search,

but life lived to the edge of all that I may be.

- Mary Anne Radmacher

Life is not easy for any of us.

But what of that?

We must have perseverance

and above all confidence in ourselves.

We must believe that we are gifted for something

and that this thing must be attained.

- Marie Curie

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.

Eternity

I am drawn to the wild edge of the ocean of my being

My curiosity unbound, I test the limits of the limitless and the boundaries of the timeless.

I walk the path - the way - the way of ways - to the end that is not an end.

- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading:Your Legacy - Making a Difference

Fulfilling Your Dreams

Follow Your Bliss

Only Today

WHY Would Anyone "Expect" Life to be Fair?

When I hear somebody sigh, "Life is hard,"
I am always tempted to ask, Compared to what?
- Sydney Harris

Adversity can crush our spirit - or strengthen it - it is our choice.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

What if we just acted like everything was easy?
- Mary Anne Radmacher

Whenever you say or even think, "This is hard,"
that task or challenge becomes difficult.
Dread it, and it becomes terrifying.

When you choose to move past fear -
fear of failure, fear of embarrassment, fear of "looking bad," fear of losing respect -
life becomes much lighter, and most any task becomes possible - perhaps even enjoyable.
Most any challenge can become an adventure of discovery.

The secret to a great life is recognizing that life was never intended to be fair.
Life simply isn't "fair," and that's okay.
The joy of life comes from playing the game of life as best we can,
focusing far more on the love and good example we can contribute
to other lives than on demanding money, stuff, love, or appreciation.
Service becomes a source of joy when it is not viewed as a duty.

Life Is Not "Fair," But It Can Still Be Joyful.
Life is as easy or as hard as you think it is.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Do Not Rail Against Life

Strength In Hard Times

Circumstance Reveals What You Are Made Of
      

Life is too important to be spent being unsmiling, grim, and humorless

Life is too important to be taken seriously.
- Oscar Wilde

Oscar Wilde was a writer, playwright, humorist, satirist,
and astute observer of the human condition.
What does he mean by, "Life is too important to be taken seriously?"
Is it just a simple joke?

"Serious" can mean thoughtful, careful and profound,
but it also can mean unsmiling, grim, and humorless.

Life is too important to be spent being unsmiling, grim, and humorless.

Dance lightly with life today and every day.
Life is too short not to be joyful and celebrate each day.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Seriousness is a sickness; your sense of humor
makes you more human, more humble.
The sense of humor - according to me -
is one of the most essential parts of religiousness.
- Osho

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

Smile.
Today would be a wonderful day
not to take life so seriously.
Today may end up the way you prefer -
and it may not.
Happiness is not about being a winner -
it's about being gentle with life -
being gentle with yourself.
Let life be a dance,
and choose the kind of
dance you want for today -
perhaps a gentle loving dance.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Humor in the Face of Adversity

As a Child Again

Be Gentle with Yourself

Time to Smell the Flowers
      

Today is Your Day

 

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
     

Pay Attention to Beauty

 

Everything has beauty,
but not everyone sees it.
- Confucius

Beauty is simply reality seen with the eyes of love.
- Evelyn Underhill

Those who find beauty in all of nature
will find themselves at one with the secrets of life itself.
- L. Wolfe Gilbert

We live in a wonderful world that is
full of beauty, charm and adventure.
There is no end to the adventures that we can have
if only we seek them with our eyes open.
- Jawaharlal Nehru

Look closely... See with new eyes...
Don't just pass by what is familiar without a thought.
Pay attention and look closely.
There is beauty - there is discovery -
there is a whole new world hiding
beneath the face of the familiar.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Beauty is Everywhere

How We See Things

Art of Seeing

Simply Marvelous

Observe
    

Bring Light to the Darkest Moments

 

It is better to light a candle than to curse the darkness.
- Chinese proverb often quoted by Eleanor Roosevelt

The unknown is like the darkness of a cave -
it can be illuminated by the brief light
of one adventurer's small candle.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Happiness can be found, even in the darkest of times,
if one only remembers to turn on the light.
- J.K. Rowling

It is during our darkest moments that we must focus to see the light.
- Aristotle Onassis

Further reading: Divine Spark

Create Light for Others

Dark Days
       

Contemplate Existence...

 

I remind you, as I often do, that these daily emails are intended to inspire deep thinking about the subject matter, and not to dictate answers intended to satisfy everyone's individual needs and perspectives.

The world is perfect.
It's a mess. It has always been a mess.
We are not going to change it.
Our job is to straighten out our own lives.
- Joseph Campbell

The world is perfect.
As you question your mind, this becomes more and more obvious.
Mind changes, and as a result, the world changes.
A clear mind heals everything that needs to be healed.
It can never be fooled into believing that there is one speck out of order.
- Byron Katie

Your life within God's arms,
Your dance within God's arms,
Is already Perfect!
- Hafiz

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

It is not our place to know the mind of God.
Spirit knows what is best in the long run -
best for each of us individually,
and best for humanity as a whole.
This is often very difficult to accept
when we see war and disease in the world
and experience physical and emotional suffering
in ourselves, our family, and our friends.
I consider this belief in God's infinite power
and ultimate wisdom to be the true test of faith.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

What does it mean to say "the world is perfect" when clearly the world is full of suffering?
For someone who believes that God is both omnipotent (infinitely powerful) and omnibenevolent (infinitely good), the world MUST be perfect because an omnipotent omnibenevolent God would by definition create a perfect world -- and if we mortals do not see this world as perfect, it must be our own failure of perception (for example, accomplishing God's longer term goal for the world). See the Wikipedia article on the "Problem of Evil" for more on this.

For those who don't believe there is a God (or believe in multiple gods), the world is "perfect" simply because this is the way it is. We can change the world over time, but at this exact instant, the world is as it is, and the "perfect" way for it to be right now. This viewpoint eliminates the suffering associated with demanding that the world be different than it is. Read more at Byron Katie - No one can give you freedom but you.
     

Your Life Means What You Say It Means

 

 
Life is without meaning.
You bring the meaning to it.
The meaning of life is
whatever you ascribe it to be.
Being alive is the meaning.
- Joseph Campbell

This does NOT mean that life is meaningless or empty.
Campbell's point is that we get to CHOOSE the meaning for our lives.
Our lives mean exactly what we say they do - no more, no less.
Each of us chooses their path in life.

How different our lives are when we
really know what is deeply important to us,
and keeping that picture in mind,
we manage ourselves each day
to be and to do what really matters most.
- Stephen Covey

Do you have a plan for your life? If not, allocate some time today to sit quietly with pen and paper to begin writing your life plan - what you want to accomplish with your life, and what projects will support your goals.

Further reading: How to Choose Your Life Purpose

 This Is Your Life

The Melody Within Your Soul
    

Nature makes the whole world kin

 

All things share the same breath -
the beast, the tree, the man...
the air shares its spirit
with all the life it supports.
- Attributed to Chief Seattle
but actually written in 1972 by screenwriter Ted Perry

Let children walk with Nature,
let them see the beautiful blendings
and communions of death and life,
their joyous inseparable unity,
as taught in woods and meadows,
plains and mountains and streams
of our blessed star,
and they will learn that death
is stingless indeed,
and as beautiful as life.
- John Muir

One touch of nature makes the whole world kin.
- William Shakespeare

When we try to pick out anything by itself,
we find it hitched to everything else in the universe.
- John Muir

We are all one - the web of life.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Natural Web

All Life

All Brothers and Sisters

Unity with Spirit and All Creation
     

Appreciate Small Joys and Little Pleasures

 

It is of the small joys and little pleasures
that the greatest of our days are built.
- Mary Anne Radmacher

Maybe life isn't really as complicated
as we make it out to be.
Perhaps a simple child-like attitude would create
a less stressful and happier life.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

In dwelling, live close to the ground.
In thinking, keep to the simple.
In conflict, be fair and generous.
In governing, don't try to control.
In work, do what you enjoy.
In family life, be completely present.
- Lao Tzu

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

Further reading: Ten Little Tips to Feel Happier Right Now

The Secret of Happiness

A Simple Life

What If Happiness...
     

Accept and Love All of Life

Happiness doesn't depend on any external conditions,
it is governed by our mental attitude.
- Dale Carnegie

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

Live and work but do not forget to play,
to have fun in life and really enjoy it.
- Eileen Caddy

Happiness depends upon ourselves.
- Aristotle

Today's affirmation:
I become happy when I choose to accept and love all of life.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: The Secret of Happiness

Radiate Your Happiness to the World

Say NO to Stress

Finding Joy

Ten Little Tips to Feel Happier Right Now
      

The Eagle in You Wants to Soar

 

One can never consent to creep when one feels the impulse to soar.
- Helen Keller

Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions.
Small people always do that, but the really great
make you feel that you, too, can become great.
- Mark Twain

There is an eagle in me that wants to soar,
and there is a hippopotamus in me that wants to wallow in the mud.
- Carl Sandburg

If we insist on being as sure as is conceivable...
we must be content to creep along the ground,
and never soar.
- John Henry Newman

Why settle for less?
If you do not yet feel your wings spreading,
look for the chains tethering you to your history.
You were born wild and free. What happened?
Are you willing to break free of your past?
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Spread Your Wings

Life Lived to the Edge

The Edge

Let Your Heart Soar
    

Instead of Complaining, Take Action

 

We cannot change anything until we accept it.
Condemnation does not liberate, it oppresses.
- Carl Jung

Any fool can criticize, condemn and complain,
and most fools do.
- Benjamin Franklin

Never ascribe to malice that which is
adequately explained by incompetence.
- Napoleon

When they are disappointed, most people react by assigning blame,
and finding someone to criticize.
What if we accepted that our disappointments
are seldom the result of malice on the part of anyone,
and worked together to make life better for all.
Don't Complain, Take Action Instead.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

The curious paradox is that when I accept myself just as I am,
then I can change.
- Carl Rogers

Further reading: Restraint

Condemn None

Stand Beyond Criticism

Judge Not
      

Develop a Passion for Learning

 

I'm not afraid of storms for I'm learning how to sail my ship.
- Louisa May Alcott

Develop a passion for learning.
If you do, you will never cease to grow.
- Anthony J. D'Angelo

If you put yourself in a position where
you have to stretch outside your comfort zone,
then you are forced to expand your consciousness.
- Les Brown

Intellectual growth should commence at birth
and cease only at death.
- Albert Einstein

Cultivate a 'learning consciousness,'
in which your experiences, knowledge,
and attitudes expand over time;
in contrast to a 'fixed consciousness,'
in which one stagnates and fails to progress.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Lifelong Learning

How We Learn

How Life Teaches

Learning From History

Renewing Yourself

Question Your Questions
    

Beware the Illusion of Knowledge

 

To know yet to think that one does not know is best;
Not to know yet to think that one knows
will lead to difficulty.
- Lao Tzu

The greatest obstacle to discovery is not ignorance -
it is the illusion of knowledge.
- Daniel J. Boorstin

Beware of false knowledge;
it is more dangerous than ignorance.
- George Bernard Shaw

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

Truth is not defined by
how many people believe something.
Ask. Question. Think.
Decide - for yourself.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

When you have a very strong FEELING that something is true, often it isn't.
WANTING something to be true doesn't make it true.
Likewise, being AFRAID that something is true doesn't make it true either.

Further reading: Truth isn't True. Reality isn't Real.

The Danger of Assumptions

Perspective on Tradition: An Open Mind
    

Focus on the Positives in Your Life

 

Write your Sad times in Sand,
Write your Good times in Stone.
- George Bernard Shaw

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

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

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

Further reading: 12 Life Lessons I Learned From My Cat

Feeling Depressed?

When It's Darkest

Count Your Blessings - Not Your Troubles

Overcoming Anxiety

Five Questions to Ask Yourself When You Feel Sad for No Apparent Reason
    

Some thoughts as we enter the New Year of 2025...

 

Some thoughts as we enter a New Year:

Good Endings precede Good Beginnings.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

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 cause 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

New Year's Day 2025

This bright new year is given me
To live each day with zest
To daily grow and try to be
My highest and my best.
- William Arthur Ward

Cheers to a new year and another chance for us to get it right.
- Oprah Winfrey

Don't Wait!
Start on your dreams, your impulses,
your longings, your special occasions today.
Because this is your moment.
- Mary Anne Radmacher

Another Sunrise, Another New Beginning.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream.
- C. S. Lewis

Further Reading: Have a Happy New Year - All Year Long

The Main Thing

The First Day