Daily Inspirational Quotes Email by Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Inspiration, NOT Fear

Wed, 29 Nov 2023 07:30:00 +0200

Today, fear again grips America - in public and in private. Remember FDR's words and focus with courage on the job at hand - the job of living joyfully regardless of external circumstances.

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

We must be the great arsenal of democracy.
- Franklin D. Roosevelt

This world of ours... must avoid becoming
a community of dreadful fear and hate,
and be, instead, a proud confederation of mutual trust and respect.
- Dwight D. Eisenhower

The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.
- Franklin D. Roosevelt

December seventh, 1941, a date which will live in infamy...
- Franklin D. Roosevelt (32nd President of the United States)

Watch FDR's 1941 "Live in Infamy" Speech

Further reading: Serenity rather than Fear

Choose the Way of Your Heart

Tue, 28 Nov 2023 07:30:00 +0200

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

To know what you prefer
instead of humbly saying Amen
to what the world tells you you ought to prefer,
is to have kept your soul alive.
- Robert Louis Stevenson

Happiness is a choice.
You grieve, you stomp your feet,
you pick yourself up and choose to be happy.
- Lucy Lawless

As you awaken,
may your dreams greet you by name,
and may you answer, "Yes!"
- Mary Anne Radmacher

Let Your Life Follow Your Heart.
Let your heartfelt longings be your guide.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Courage has a Quiet Voice

Choose Your Attitude

Honor Your Heart

WORK for Peace, Both Inner Peace and World Peace

Mon, 27 Nov 2023 07:30:00 +0200

Peace is not merely a distant goal that we seek,
but a means by which we arrive at that goal.
- Martin Luther King, Jr.

I am not only a pacifist but a militant pacifist.
I am willing to fight for peace.
Nothing will end war unless the people themselves refuse to go to war.
- Albert Einstein

Peace in not the refusal to defend oneself and one's community.
Peace is the commitment never to attack anyone.
and mostly, Peace is an internal sense of tranquility, regardless of external circumstances.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

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

Today's affirmation:
I am at Peace with myself,
my family, my community, and the world.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Do God's Work

World Peace

Thoughts of Peace

Choose Peace

The Prayer of St. Francis of Assisi

Celebrate Our Differences

Sun, 26 Nov 2023 07:30:00 +0200

As we grow as unique persons, we learn to respect
the uniqueness of others.
- Robert H. Schuller

Share our similarities, celebrate our differences.
- M. Scott Peck

It is not our differences that divide us.
It is our inability to recognize, accept,
and celebrate those differences.
- Audre Lorde

You never really understand a person
until you consider things from his point of view.
- Harper Lee

Love is the power to see similarity in the dissimilar.
- Theodor Adorno

When we have expectations (demands), we think we know how people SHOULD behave, and we can have no compassion. Only after we accept that another person's uniquely "right" path does not follow our own preconceptions, we can be compassionate.

The essence of compassion is accepting others as unique individuals,
without believing that they are less good for not being carbon copies of ourselves.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Condemn None

Empathy

Understanding

Signs of a Compassionate Person

Do What You Can

Avoid Judging Others

Sat, 25 Nov 2023 07:30:00 +0200

Judge not, that you be not judged.
For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged;
and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.
- Matthew 7:1-2

If we were faultless we should not be so much annoyed
by the defects of those with whom we associate.
- Francois Fenelon

You are precisely as big as what you love and precisely
as small as what you allow to annoy you.
- Robert Anton Wilson

Today's affirmation:
I Resist the Temptation to Judge Others.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: The Essence of Jesus' Teaching

Love All, Judge None

The Price of Anger

Keep the Golden Rule

Look Through Each Other's Eyes

Fri, 24 Nov 2023 07:30:00 +0200

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

Could a greater miracle take place
than for us to look through each other's eyes for an instant?
- Henry David Thoreau

Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.
- Philo

We are all different - and we are all one.
Take time to understand, and to appreciate.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Before you criticize a man,
walk a mile in his shoes.
- Anonymous

The more we care for the happiness of others,
the greater is our own sense of well-being.
- Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama

Understanding is a two-way street.
- Eleanor Roosevelt

We will never have true civilization until we have
learned to recognize the rights of others.
- Will Rogers

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

Further reading: The Art of Listening

Opportunity for Kindness

Of all the keys to happiness, Service to Others is the big one

Open Your Mind

Thanksgiving Day 2023

Thu, 23 Nov 2023 07:30:00 +0200

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

Learn How to Reason

Wed, 22 Nov 2023 07:30:00 +0200

The purpose of education is to replace an empty mind with an open one.
- Malcolm Forbes

The function of education is to teach one
to think intensively and to think critically.
- Martin Luther King, Jr.

Children must be taught how to think, not what to think.
- Margaret Mead

The value of a college education is not the learning of many facts
but the training of the mind to think.
- Albert Einstein

The wise man doesn't give the right answers,
he poses the right questions.
- Claude Levi-Strauss

The principle goal of education in the schools
should be creating men and women who are capable of doing new things,
not simply repeating what other generations have done.
- Jean Piaget

Further reading: Our Future is the World's Children

Welfare of Our Children

The Nature of Learning

Teaching by Example

Look INSIDE Yourself for Values and Motivations

Tue, 21 Nov 2023 07:30:00 +0200

Set Life’s Rhythm with Your Heart-Drum
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

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

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

The way is not in the sky.
The way is in the heart.
- The Buddha

Your visions will become clear only
when you can look into your own heart.
Who looks outside, dreams;
who looks inside, awakes.
- Carl Jung

March to the beat of your own drum.
- Proverb

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

Further reading: Choose to Follow Your Heart

Choose Inner Peace

Live from Your Heart

Change Your Heart

The Beat of the Universe

Blame Does Not Solve Problems

Mon, 20 Nov 2023 07:30:00 +0200

We have to let go of all blame, all attacking, all judging,
to free our inner selves to attract what we say we want.
- Joe Vitale

Take your life in your own hands, and what happens?
A terrible thing: no one to blame.
- Erica Jong

A man can fail many times,
but he isn't a failure until
he begins to blame somebody else.
- John Burroughs

As soon as we find someone to blame,
we act as if we've solved the problem.
- Margaret J. Wheatley

The impulse to blame something or someone is foolishness.
There is nothing to be gained in blaming,
whether it be others or oneself.
- Epictetus

When we are disappointed, we look for someone to blame.
Declaring someone to be at fault is the nature of anger.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

When you are impeccable, you take
responsibility for your actions,
but you do not judge or blame yourself.
- don Miguel Ruiz

It is an act of great Courage to forsake all Blame.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Accusation of "Fault"

Judging Others

Why I Choose to Believe that Others are Never the Cause of My Unhappiness

Disappointment and Criticism

Categorizing People

Blaze Your Own Trail

Sun, 19 Nov 2023 07:30:00 +0200

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 few who, sooner or later,
are lucky enough to break away from the pack,
the most intoxicating moment comes
when they cease being bodies in the command of others,
and find that they control their own time,
when they learn their own voice and authority.
- Theodore H. White [non-gendered paraphrase]

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 Naturally Follows Compassion

Sat, 18 Nov 2023 07:30:00 +0200

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

Look Beneath Superficial Assumptions

Fri, 17 Nov 2023 07:30:00 +0200

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

Time Spent Alone in Stillness is Golden

Thu, 16 Nov 2023 07:30:00 +0200

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

The Power of Your Truth

Wed, 15 Nov 2023 07:30:00 +0200

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

Don't Chase Happiness, Gently Cultivate Happiness

Tue, 14 Nov 2023 07:30:00 +0200

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

Seek Your Calling

Mon, 13 Nov 2023 07:30:00 +0200

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

Forgiveness is an Act of Self-Love

Sun, 12 Nov 2023 07:30:00 +0200

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 Past Are You The Prisoner?

Treat ALL with Goodness

The Futility of Regret

Cherish Stillness

Sat, 11 Nov 2023 07:30:00 +0200

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

Live Life Full Out

Fri, 10 Nov 2023 07:30:00 +0200

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