Kindness is the quality that makes human life worth living

Kindness is perhaps the most essential quality of being fully human.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

A part of kindness consists in loving people more than they deserve.
- Joseph Joubert

My religion is very simple. My religion is kindness.
- Dalai Lama

Kindness in words creates confidence.
Kindness in thinking creates profoundness.
Kindness in giving creates love.
- Lao Tzu

Kindness is the quality that makes human life worth living.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: The Prayer of St. Francis of Assisi

Albert Pike: What we have done for ourselves alone dies with us.

Aesop: Gentleness and kind persuasion win where force and bluster fail

The Cab Ride
     

Trust Proven Facts and Critical Analysis

The only sovereign you can allow to rule you is reason.
- Terry Goodkind

The ultimate authority must always rest
with the individual's own reason and critical analysis.
- Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama

If we would guide by the light of reason
we must let our minds be bold.
- Louis D. Brandeis

True virtue is life under the direction of reason.
- Baruch Spinoza

Authority has every reason to fear the skeptic,
for authority can rarely survive in the face of doubt.
- Robert Lindner

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.

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

Reason and judgment are the qualities of a leader.
- Publius Cornelius Tacitus

Further reading: Practice Conscious Awareness

Re-Examine All You Think You Know

Trust Your Own Advice
     

Hold Peace Toward ALL in Your Own Heart

Always hold peace toward all in your own heart.
If you are healthy, support those who are sick.
If you have a job, support those who have lost theirs.
If you are strong, support those who are feeble of body or mind.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Our prime purpose in this life is to help others.
- Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama

We can never obtain peace in the outer world
until we make peace with ourselves.
- Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama

For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink:
I was a stranger, and ye took me in: Naked, and ye clothed me:
I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me.
...
Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these
my brethren, ye have done it unto me.
Matthew 25:35-40

If we have no peace,
it is because we have forgotten
that we belong to each other.
- Mother Teresa

Further reading: Feed Just One

Commitment To Service

The Good Samaritan

Help Others

Encourage Others

How Helping Others Helps You
      

Your Legacy to Future Generations

We have an obligation to live in harmony with God's creation.
- Bruce Babbitt

Everything you do, and everything you do not do,
is your legacy to future generations.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Treat the earth well.
It was not given to you by your parents,
it was loaned to you by your children.
We do not inherit the Earth from our Ancestors,
we borrow it from our Children.
- Native American traditional

A man is ethical only when life, as such, is sacred to him,
that of plants and animals as that of his fellow men,
and when he devotes himself helpfully to all life that is in need of help.
- Albert Schweitzer

Be gentle with the earth.
- Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama

Further reading:

Plant Trees For Your Grandchildren

The World We Leave Our Children

The Seeds You Plant

All Life
   

Creating Peace Takes EFFORT - Peace is NOT the Default State of the World

No one can find inner peace except by working,
not in a self-centered way, but for the whole human family.
- Peace Pilgrim

Let there be peace on earth.
And let it begin with me.
- Jill Jackson Miller

Stop! Breathe deeply.
Begin bringing peace to the outer world
by regaining your own inner peace.
Choose love, choose gratitude,
choose forgiveness, choose peace.
Begin with your own inner peace.
Then use that inner peace
as a platform from which
to approach the outer world
with perspective, understanding, and patience.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

If you wish to experience peace, provide peace for another.
- Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama

Further reading: Peace IS the Way

Do God's Work

End Hatred

No War
      

Luck marches with those who give their very best

 

Those who have succeeded at anything
and don't mention luck
are kidding themselves.
- Larry King

Luck is preparation meeting opportunity.
- Seneca

I find that the harder I work,
the more luck I seem to have.
- Thomas Jefferson

Remember that not getting what you want
is sometimes a wonderful stroke of luck.
- Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama

The only thing that overcomes hard luck is hard work.
- Harry Golden

Luck marches with those who give their very best.
- H. Jackson Brown, Jr.

Further reading: Aging With Grace

Maybe So, Maybe Not

Get Un-Stuck
       

Seek Internal Peace

 

Today's affirmation:
I am at peace with myself,
and with all that is.

Each one has to find his peace from within.
And peace to be real must be unaffected by outside circumstances.
- Mohandas (Mahatma) Gandhi

You may not seem able to change some outer circumstances
but you can start by changing your inner experience of life and yourself.
- Joy Page

We can never obtain peace in the outer world
until we make peace with ourselves.
- Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama

If you wish to experience peace, provide peace for another.
- Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama

Guide our feet into the way of peace.
- Luke 1:79

Further reading: Highest and Innermost God

Life Without Stress

Experience This Moment

The Enemy Within
     

It's Hard Work To Create Peace

 

Peace doesn't just happen.
Peace must be "made,"
and it's hard work to make Peace.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Peace is not an absence of war,
it is a virtue, a state of mind,
a disposition for benevolence, confidence, justice.
- Baruch Spinoza

It is not enough to say we must not wage war.
It is necessary to love peace and sacrifice for it.
- Martin Luther King, Jr.

We can never obtain peace in the outer world
until we make peace with ourselves.
- Dalai Lama

The world has always been in an uproar, and it always will be.
Choose Peace. Choose to live with Peace.
Choose to interact peacefully with everyone -
especially those whose instinct is not to be peaceful.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Peacemakers

Love All, Judge None

Hatred vs. Love
     

Choose Inner Peace

 

The world has always been in an uproar, and it always will be.
Choose Peace. Choose to live with Peace.
Choose to interact peacefully with everyone -
especially those whose instinct is not to be peaceful.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

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

You may not seem able to change some outer circumstances
but you can start by changing your inner experience of life and yourself.
- Joy Page

Choose Inner Peace.
Nothing is worth losing your inner peace.
Take action as circumstances require,
but never surrender your inner peace.
Stop. Breathe deeply.
Close your eyes and breathe deeply again.
Then, and only then, take action -
from a peaceful heart.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

We can never obtain peace in the outer world
until we make peace with ourselves.
- Dalai Lama

Never be in a hurry; do everything quietly and in a calm spirit.
Do not lose your inner peace for anything whatsoever,
even if your whole world seems upset.
- Saint Francis de Sales

Further reading: Have Gratitude for THIS Moment

Slow Down and Focus

Focus on Peace

Kick Back
    

Our Children's Planet

 

A man is ethical only when life, as such, is sacred to him,
that of plants and animals as that of his fellow men,
and when he devotes himself helpfully to all life that is in need of help.
- Albert Schweitzer

This land, this water, this air, this planet -
this is our legacy to our young.
- Paul Tsongas

People must feel that the natural world is important
and valuable and beautiful and wonderful
and an amazement and a pleasure.
- David Attenborough

If future generations are to remember us more with gratitude than sorrow,
we must achieve more than just the miracles of technology.
We must also leave them a glimpse of the world as it was created,
not just as it looked when we got through with it.
- Lyndon B. Johnson

Be gentle with the earth.
- Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama

Further reading: Our Future is the World's Children

One Planet, One People, One Destiny

Legacy to Future Generations

Reverence for Our Earth
      

Take time to understand, and to appreciate

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 anyone,
walk a mile in their shoes.
- Anonymous [gender-neutral update]

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
      

In solitude the mind gains strength

 

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 Alone and 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
     

Trust Common Sense Rather Than "Belief"

 

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

Believe nothing, no matter where you read it,
or who said it, no matter if I have said it,
unless it agrees with your own reason
and your own common sense.
- The Buddha

Don't follow any advice, no matter how good,
until you feel as deeply in your spirit as you think
in your mind that the counsel is wise.
- Joan Rivers

The ultimate authority must always rest
with the individual's own reason and critical analysis.
- Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama

Each man is the architect of his own fate.
- Appius Claudius

Don't believe me.
I don't want you to believe me
but I want you to listen and make choices - your choices.
If what I say, doesn't work for you, leave it.
But if it works for you and that's what you want, then make it yours.
- don Miguel Ruiz

Further reading: To Thine Own Self Be True

Don't Take It Personally

Encourage Me

True to Your Best
    

Value Honesty and Integrity

To be a person of honor is to live with honesty and integrity of action and thought.

This is my simple religion.
There is no need for temples;
no need for complicated philosophy.
Our own brain, our own heart is our temple;
the philosophy is kindness.
- Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama

To believe in something, and not to live it, is dishonest.
- Mohandas (Mahatma) Gandhi

Honor, Forgiveness, Gratitude, Choice,
Vision, Action, Celebration, Unity -
The Values of an Inspired Life.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

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: What We Are Made Of

Do What You Know Is Right

Secret of Happiness

Things Divine
     

Appreciate Excellence in Others

Appreciation is a wonderful thing.
It makes what is excellent in others belong to us as well.
- Voltaire

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

One of the sanest, surest, and most generous joys of life
comes from being happy over the good fortune of others.
- Robert A. Heinlein

Sadly, it is human nature to measure success by comparison with our neighbors.
A consequence of this tendency is the instinct to wish for others to fail
and our own status to therefore appear higher by comparison.

Strive to cheer whenever others succeed
and to avoid viewing your own achievements in comparison to others.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Eight Rules for Living Your Greatest Life

Empathy

Light for Others

Disappointment

The Art of Listening

Offer Comfort
      

Have a Thankful Heart

 

The unthankful heart... discovers no mercies;
but let the thankful heart sweep through the day and,
as the magnet finds the iron,
so it will find, in every hour,
some heavenly blessings!
- Henry Ward Beecher

When we trust in the natural goodness around us,
we open ourselves for the blessings of life to flow toward us.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

We return thanks to the Great Spirit,
in whom is embodied all goodness,
and who directs all things for the good of his children.
- Iroquois traditional

The roots of all goodness lie
in the soil of appreciation for goodness.
- Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama

Blessings flow toward gratitude.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Create the world that could be

Know that You have been Blessed

Believe in People; Believe in Yourself

The Power of Your Intention
    

Kindness is the Quality that Makes Us Fully Human

Kindness is perhaps the most essential quality of being fully human.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

A part of kindness consists in loving people more than they deserve.
- Joseph Joubert

My religion is very simple. My religion is kindness.
- Dalai Lama

Kindness in words creates confidence.
Kindness in thinking creates profoundness.
Kindness in giving creates love.
- Lao Tzu

Further reading: The Prayer of St. Francis of Assisi

Albert Pike: What we have done for ourselves alone dies with us.

Aesop: Gentleness and kind persuasion win where force and bluster fail

The Cab Ride
     

 

Trust Critical Analysis and Reason

The only sovereign you can allow to rule you is reason.
- Terry Goodkind

The ultimate authority must always rest
with the individual's own reason and critical analysis.
- Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama

If we would guide by the light of reason
we must let our minds be bold.
- Louis D. Brandeis

True virtue is life under the direction of reason.
- Baruch Spinoza

Authority has every reason to fear the skeptic,
for authority can rarely survive in the face of doubt.
- Robert Lindner

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.

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

Reason and judgment are the qualities of a leader.
- Publius Cornelius Tacitus

Further reading: Practice Conscious Awareness

Re-Examine All You Think You Know

Trust Your Own Advice
     

We Belong to Each Other

 

Always hold peace toward all in your own heart.
If you are healthy, support those who are sick.
If you have a job, support those who have lost theirs.
If you are strong, support those who are feeble of body or mind.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Our prime purpose in this life is to help others.
- Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama

We can never obtain peace in the outer world
until we make peace with ourselves.
- Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama

For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink:
I was a stranger, and ye took me in: Naked, and ye clothed me:
I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me.
...
Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these
my brethren, ye have done it unto me.
Matthew 25:35-40

If we have no peace,
it is because we have forgotten
that we belong to each other.
- Mother Teresa

Further reading: Feed Just One

Commitment To Service

The Good Samaritan

Help Others

Encourage Others

How Helping Others Helps You
      

Be Gentle with the Earth

 

We have an obligation to live in harmony with God's creation.
- Bruce Babbitt

Everything you do, and everything you do not do,
is your legacy to future generations.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Treat the earth well.
It was not given to you by your parents,
it was loaned to you by your children.
We do not inherit the Earth from our Ancestors,
we borrow it from our Children.
- Native American traditional

A man is ethical only when life, as such, is sacred to him,
that of plants and animals as that of his fellow men,
and when he devotes himself helpfully to all life that is in need of help.
- Albert Schweitzer

Be gentle with the earth.
- Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama

Further reading:

Plant Trees For Your Grandchildren

The World We Leave Our Children

The Seeds You Plant

All Life