Try Looking at Things from a New Perspective

 

Half the joy of life is in little things taken on the run...
but let us keep our hearts young and our eyes open
that nothing worth our while shall escape us.
- Victor Cherbuliez

Joy is what happens to us when we allow ourselves
to recognize how good things really are.
- Marianne Williamson

Look for joy in your life; it's not always easy to find.
- Charles Kuralt

Happiness often sneaks in through a door you didn't know you left open.
- John Barrymore

Often, the greatest joy is to be found not in new things,
but in old things seen through new eyes.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Life Lessons I Learned From My Cat

Is your glass of life half empty? Or half full?

Life is Beautiful

What we enjoy constitutes our abundance

How To Be Happy In Life
     

Ask WHY You Believe What You Believe

Inquiry is fatal to certainty.
- Will Durant

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

Doubt is the incentive to truth, and inquiry leads the way.
- Hosea Ballou

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

What each must seek in his life never was on land or sea.
It is something out of his own unique potentiality for experience,
something that never has been and never could
have been experienced by anyone else.
- Joseph Campbell

It is error only, and not truth, that shrinks from inquiry.
- Thomas Paine Look Deeply, Doubt What You Have Long Believed.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Assumptions

Practice Conscious Awareness

Analysis AND Emotion

Quotations as a Spur for Inquiry
   

Challenges Make Us Stronger

 

When life is too easy for us, we must beware
or we may not be ready to meet the blows
which sooner or later come to everyone, rich or poor.
- Eleanor Roosevelt

Overcome obstacles - grow and bloom anyway.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

We must free ourselves of the hope
that the sea will ever rest.
We must learn to sail in high winds.
- Aristotle Onassis

Do not pray for easy lives.
Pray to be stronger men.
- John F. Kennedy

You Can't Soar Without a Headwind.
Obstacles are Necessary to a Life Fully Lived
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Opportunity within Crisis

We Must Sail, Not Drift

Serenity rather than Fear

Life Is As Hard As You Think It Is
      

Be a Role Model, Not a Critic

 

Being a role model is the most powerful form of educating.
Youngsters need good models more than they need critics.
It's one of a parent's greatest responsibilities and opportunities.
- John Wooden

Example is not the main thing in influencing others.
It is the only thing.
- Albert Schweitzer

Pull the string, and it will follow wherever you wish.
Push it, and it will go nowhere at all.
- Dwight D. Eisenhower

A good example is the best sermon.
- Benjamin Franklin

If you want others to follow your example,
don't criticize or cajole others,
but rather live your own life
in a manner that convincingly demonstrates
both the virtue and the success
of your way of life.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Inspire Others

Live a life you hope your children will emulate

Be a Leader

The Nature of Education

How We Learn
      

View History Through a Clear Lens

 

You change the past when you change the way you see it.
- Alan Cohen

History is a vast early warning system.
- Norman Cousins

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

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

Oh yes, the past can hurt.
But, you can either run from it or, learn from it.
- the movie The Lion King

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

Clean the Lens Through Which You View the Past.
Clear away the prejudices and the biases.
Consider history from the perspective of both the losers and the winners.
Attempt to strip history (both your personal history and world history) down to just the facts.
 - Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Learning From History

Release the Past

The Cleansing Power of Forgiveness

Letting Go - Moving On
       

Regardless of Circumstances, Choose Joy

 

Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass...
It's about learning to dance in the rain.
- Vivian Greene

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

Have NO EXPECTATIONS.
Life will not meet your expectations.
Choose joy anyway.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Count Your Blessings - Not Your Troubles

Calm During Storms

Beyond Your Worries

When It's Darkest

Choose Joy Anyway
     

Live Life Full Out - Begin Today

 

A good character is the best tombstone.
Those who loved you and were helped by you will remember
you when forget-me-nots have withered.
Carve your name on hearts, not on marble.
- Charles Spurgeon

What we have done for ourselves alone dies with us;
what we have done for others and the world remains and is immortal.
- Albert Pike

What do you want written on your tombstone?
It won't be there if you haven't done it.
If you want "never missed a day of work," go for it,
but if you want it said that you radiated happiness to all around -
put a smile on every face - inspired us all to be the best we could be,
was a good friend, perhaps a loving spouse and parent,
you might want to start today to lighten up, and start to put happiness -
yours, your family's, and your friends -
ahead of material success or "achievement."

If you want to do it, do it - TODAY.
What you do TODAY is what others will remember. Make today count.

How do you want to be remembered? Live life full out - Begin today.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: To Do That Which Will Endure

Legacy to Future Generations

Seeds You Plant