Accept the fact that everything changes

Equanimity (or composure) is the state of being calm, balanced,
and in control of one's emotions, even under stress or in the midst of difficulty.

Affirmation:
I choose to respond to life's provocations,
not with anger, resentment, or regret,
but with equanimity and a focus on positive action.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

I know, to banish anger altogether
from one's breast is a difficult task.
It cannot be achieved through pure personal effort.
It can be done only by God's grace.
- Mohandas (Mahatma) Gandhi

Few people are capable of expressing with equanimity
opinions which differ from
the prejudices of their social environment.
Most people are even incapable of forming such opinions.
- Albert Einstein

Without accepting the fact that everything changes,
we cannot find perfect composure.
But unfortunately, although it is true,
it is difficult for us to accept it.
Because we cannot accept the truth of transience,
we suffer.
- Shunryu Suzuki

Further reading: Complaining Creates Unhappiness

Stillness

Ancient Wisdom about Uncertain Times

Restraint

Stay Positive
     

Don't trust until trust is earned

It is wonderful to have Faith,
but don't confuse trust with being gullible.
Balance trust with conscious thought.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

You may be deceived if you trust too much,
but you will live in torment
if you don't trust enough.
- Frank Crane

Only a fool tests the depth of the water with both feet.
- African Proverb

Trust yourself, then you will know how to live.
- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Anyone who doesn't take truth seriously in small matters
cannot be trusted in large ones either.
- Albert Einstein

It takes years to build up trust,
and only seconds to destroy it.
- Anonymous

Further reading: What or who do you trust? 

Trust in the Light

Take Nothing On Authority

Can you trust and if so who?

7 Secrets of Happy Couples
     

Man does not live to produce bread

Make your work to be in keeping with your purpose.
- Leonardo da Vinci

All labor that uplifts humanity has dignity and importance
and should be undertaken with painstaking excellence.
- Martin Luther King, Jr.

The world is moved along, not only
by the mighty shoves of its heroes,
but also by the aggregate of tiny pushes
of each honest worker.
- Helen Keller

Everything that is really great and inspiring
is created by the individual who can labor in freedom.
- Albert Einstein

The end of labor is to gain leisure.
- Aristotle

Man does not live to produce bread,
he produces bread to live. 
Work is not the purpose of life. 
- Robert G. Lewis

 "Man does not live, therefore, to produce bread. He produces bread to live. The distinction is enormously important and relevant. Obviously man must have food, and so far as our experience goes, he must work to produce It, But work is not the purpose of life. Production is not the purpose of life. Instead, human lives are the entire purpose and the reason for all work and for all production.
- Robert G. Lewis - speaking about the issues of family farms at the annual meeting of the Interorganization Committee on Problems for Rural Youth in 1957

Further reading: A Balanced Life

Take Time For Yourself

Called to be a Street Sweeper
     

THINK about new ideas, rather than either blindly rejecting or accepting them

What is my purpose in sending these Daily Quotes and Inspirations, as I have been doing since 2008?
Some of these messages are intended to provide a small measure of comfort, but most of these messages are intended to challenge my readers to deeper thinking.

Short quotations/aphorisms are by their nature incomplete, and almost always present only one side of an issue. Long-time readers will also notice that I often present quotations that contradict each other - for example, some exhort the reader to work harder/smarter while others encourage placing a relatively low priority on work.

My hope is that these daily messages will get you thinking about new ideas. Let's take these aphorisms as a spur for inquiry. Let those ideas with which you disagree start you thinking, talking and questioning, but also let the comfortable, familiar, and inspiring quotes become a source of questioning. Remember that our comfortable inspiring quotes are also never 100% true in all situations. Open Minds - Open Hearts. Thank you for reading these daily messages.
Read more about this at Inspirational/Motivational Quotes - Spur for Inquiry

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

Look for what is,
and not for what you think should be.
- Albert Einstein [paraphrase]

What is a scientist after all?
It is a curious man looking through a keyhole,
the keyhole of nature, trying to know what's going on.
- Jacques Yves Cousteau

Intense feeling too often obscures the truth.
- Harry S. Truman

All truths are easy to understand
once they are discovered;
the point is to discover them.
- Galileo Galilei

Do not limit yourself to either analysis or emotion.
Look deeply into the DNA of its seeds,
AND appreciate the intoxicating grandeur of the forest.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Be a Seeker

Lifelong Learning

Inquiry

Conscious Learning

Discovery
    

Punishment Seldom Achieves the Intended Result

It is an open question whether any behavior
based on fear of eternal punishment
can be regarded as ethical
or should be regarded as merely cowardly.
- Margaret Mead

To be admirable, morality must be its own reward.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

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

Punishment cannot heal spirits, can only break them.
- Barbara Deming

If people are good only because they fear punishment,
and hope for reward,
then we are a sorry lot indeed.
- Albert Einstein

Correcting bad habits cannot be done
by forbidding or punishment.
- Robert Baden-Powell (the founder of scouting)

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: Anger is Its Own Punishment

Finding Peace in Forgiveness

Revenge, the Deadliest Sin?
    

Life is Mostly a Matter of Introspection

The world in which we live and work,
is a mirror of our attitudes and expectations.
- Earl Nightingale

Everyone is a mirror image of yourself -
your own thinking coming back at you.
- Byron Katie

A person experiences life as
something separated from the rest -
a kind of optical delusion of consciousness.
Our task must be to free ourselves
from this self-imposed prison,
and through compassion,
to find the reality of Oneness.
- Albert Einstein

Life is for each of us
a solitary cell
whose walls are mirrors.
- Eugene O'Neill (paraphrase)

Once we are destined to live out our lives
in the prison of our mind,
our duty is to furnish it well.
- Peter Ustinov

Further reading: Are You a Prisoner?

Life is a Mirror

s Being a Reflection

How We See Things
    

Make Your Every Action Admirable

Every decision you make - every decision - is not a decision about what to do.
It’s a decision about Who You Are.
When you see this, when you understand it, everything changes.
You begin to see life in a new way.
All events, occurrences, and situations turn into opportunities
to do what you came here to do.
- Neale Donald Walsch

Tell me who admires and loves you, and I will tell you who you are.
- Antoine de Saint-Exupery

Try not to become a person of success,
but rather try to become a person of value.
- Albert Einstein

Face the facts of being what you are,
for that is what changes what you are.
- Soren Kierkegaard

It's not in the DOing, it's in the BEing.
Whatever you do or don't do in your lifetime,
your greatest contribution
to current and future generations
will be the happiness and joy
you generated and radiated to those around you.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

The privilege of a lifetime is being who you are.
- Joseph Campbell

Further reading: Your Answers

Harmony

I have a Dream...

What We Are

Rattlesnake of the Mind
    

New Times Require New Ways of Thinking and Doing

New Times Require New Ways of Thinking and Doing.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Insanity is doing the same thing, over and over again,
but expecting different results.
- Rita Mae Brown (also attributed to Einstein)

Only when we realize that there is no eternal,
unchanging truth or absolute truth, can we arouse in
ourselves a sense of intellectual responsibility.
- Hu Shih

Be resolute in your goals, but flexible in your tactics.
There are times that call for repetition and perseverance;
and there are times that require new ways of thinking and doing.
The challenge is knowing one from the other.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Stay committed to your decisions, but stay flexible in your approach.
- Tony Robbins

Whatever you want in life, start today. Not tomorrow - today.
Let it be a small beginning - a tiny beginning.
Your happiness depends on starting today - every day.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: A Better Plan

It's Never Too Late

How to Keep Your New Years Resolutions
     

Practice Acceptance and Compassion toward Everyone

One way or another, we all have to find
what best fosters the flowering of our humanity
in this contemporary life,
and dedicate ourselves to that.
- Joseph Campbell

You must not lose faith in humanity.
Humanity is an ocean; if a few drops of the ocean are dirty,
the ocean does not become dirty.
- Mohandas (Mahatma) Gandhi

A generous heart, kind speech,
and a life of service and compassion
are the things which renew humanity.
- The Buddha

We cannot despair of humanity,
since we ourselves are human beings.
- Albert Einstein

Today's affirmation:
I choose acceptance and compassion toward all humanity.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: We are One

The Prayer of St. Francis of Assisi

We are most like God when we forgive

Progress of the Human Mind
       

Choose Peaceful Cooperation

The only thing that will redeem mankind is cooperation.
- Bertrand Russell

Ideologies separate us.
Dreams and anguish bring us together.
- Eugene Ionesco

There is only one way... to get anybody to do anything.
And that is by making the other person want to do it.
- Dale Carnegie

Communication leads to community, that is,
to understanding, intimacy and mutual valuing.
- Rollo May

Every kind of peaceful cooperation among men
is primarily based on mutual trust
and only secondarily on institutions
such as courts of justice and police.
- Albert Einstein

Further reading: Evolving Toward Cooperation

Progress of the Human Mind

Stand Together
      

Seek Mastery of Life

A happy life consists not in the absence,
but in the mastery of hardships.
- Helen Keller

Only one who devotes himself to a cause
with his whole strength and soul
can be a true master.
For this reason mastery demands all of a person.
- Albert Einstein

Self-disciplined begins with the mastery of your thoughts.
If you don't control what you think,
you can't control what you do.
Simply, self-discipline enables you
to think first and act afterward.
- Napoleon Hill

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

Further reading: How to Choose Your Life Purpose

Master of My Emotions

Live Your Inspired Life

Master of My Fate

Laugh at Life
           

In the midst of difficulty lies opportunity

Not what we experience,
but how we perceive what we experience,
determines our fate.
- Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach

Stay Alert, and doors will open.
You can never know when and where a magic door will open for you,
so pay attention, stay watchful, and never give up hope.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Every problem has in it the seeds of its own solution.
If you don't have any problems, you don't get any seeds.
- Norman Vincent Peale

In the midst of difficulty lies opportunity.
- Albert Einstein

Further reading: Pay Attention

The Door Will Be Opened To You

What We Perceive
     

Creat Light for Others - Serve

As we work to create light for others,
we naturally light our own way.
- Mary Anne Radmacher

Every charitable act is a stepping stone toward heaven.
- Henry Ward Beecher

It's about sharing.
You just give what you have to give
wherever you go,
and you let God handle the rest.
- Lindsay Wagner

Good works are links that form a chain of love.
- Mother Teresa

In service, there is clarity and compassion.
- Mary Anne Radmacher

It is high time that the ideal of success
should be replaced by the ideal of service.
- Albert Einstein

The unselfish effort to bring cheer to others
will be the beginning of a happier life for ourselves.
- Helen Keller

The path to your own happiness is usually found in service.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Become Kinder

Be of Service

Spread Love
       

Think Before You Frame a Question

 

A prudent question is one-half of wisdom.
- Francis Bacon

There are no right answers to wrong questions.
- Ursula K. Le Guin

To raise new questions, new possibilities,
to regard old problems from a new angle,
requires creative imagination.
- Albert Einstein

The True Insight is in the Choice of Questions.
When you keep getting the wrong answers,
try asking better questions.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie
[For example, instead of asking "how can I win this battle," consider asking "how can I avoid this battle?"
Ask yourself "what assumptions have I baked into this question" before you ask it.]

A good question is never answered.
It is not a bolt to be tightened into place
but a seed to be planted and to bear more seed
toward the hope of greening the landscape of idea.
- John Ciardi

When we have arrived at the question,
the answer is already near.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

Well, you ask a silly question, and you get a silly answer.
- Tom Lehrer

We thought that we had the answers,
it was the questions we had wrong.
- Bono

Today's affirmation: I question my questions.

Further reading:  Profound Questions

Many Answers

A Better Plan

What You See

Learn to Listen

Seek the Truth
      

You Stop Growing When You Stop Learning

 

Education is not the filling of a pail,
but the lighting of a fire.
- William Butler Yeats

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

We are not afraid to follow truth
wherever it may lead,
nor to tolerate any error
so long as reason is left free to combat it.
- Thomas Jefferson

The mind is not a vessel to be filled,
but a fire to be kindled.
- Plutarch

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

Further reading: Lifelong Learning

Knowledge is Soon Changed

Open Minds

Reason
    

Take Another Small Step Forward Each Day

 

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
         

Force Attracts Men of Low Morality

 

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.
- Lao Tzu

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
      

Continually Expand Your Perspectives

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
    

 

Pay Attention, Ask WHY

 

I am the owner of my choices.
I am the source for the perspectives I choose to hold...
regardless of how aware I am of why or how I come to possess
that particular perspective.
It takes courage to look into the mirror of our souls, absent excuses.
I will look into that mirror little bits at a time.
SEE and ACT. SEE what I can bear to see and ACT upon what I am able.
This is the heart of a gentle invitation to personal responsibility.
- Mary Anne Radmacher

Trust yourself. Only you can live your life.
Only you can taste your victories.
Only you can suffer the sting of your defeats.
Make your own choices, and accept your own consequences -
for better or worse.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

To raise new questions, new possibilities,
to regard old problems from a new angle,
requires creative imagination.
- Albert Einstein

Footprints in the sands of time...
Where have you been?
Where are you going?
Why are you going there?
Pay attention.
Don't let resentments or pessimism answer for you.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

There's no reality except the one contained within us.
That's why so many people live an unreal life.
They take images outside them for reality and never
allow the world within them to assert itself.
- Hermann Hesse

Further reading:  Seek the Truth

Maybe So, Maybe Not. - Ancient Taoist Proverb

Many Answers

Knowing Yourself
    

It only takes a few caring people to change the world

 

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 is 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