The Antidote for Fear Is Courage

 

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

We must build dikes of courage
to hold back the flood of fear.

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

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

Fear defeats more people than
any other one thing in the world.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

A life lived in fear is a life half lived.

- Anonymous

Courage doesn't always roar.
Sometimes courage is the quiet voice
at the end of the day saying,
"I will try again tomorrow."
- Mary Anne Radmacher

Photo was taken in the aftermath of 9/11 2001 in New York City

Further reading: Draw from Suffering

Gather Strength

Hard Times

To Overcome Fear
    

Selfishness and Ingratitude

A man is called selfish not for pursuing his own good,
but for neglecting his neighbor's.
- Richard Whately

Each of us must decide whether
to walk in the light of creative altruism
or in the darkness of destructive selfishness.
- Martin Luther King, Jr. [paraphrase]

Personal importance, or taking things personally,
is the maximum expression of selfishness
because we make the assumption that everything is about me.
- don Miguel Ruiz

Selfishness is not living as one wishes to live,
it is demanding that others live as one wishes that they live.
- Oscar Wilde [paraphrase]

Ingratitude is the essence of vileness.
- Immanuel Kant 

Further Reading: Nobody is Self-Made

Be the First to Condemn Injustice

This God Called Money

Let there never be a day ...
        

The Tiny Pushes of Each Honest Worker

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, 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
     

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
     

Develop a World Perspective

 

Our loyalties must transcend our race, our tribe,
our class, and our nation;
and this means we must develop a world perspective.
- Martin Luther King, Jr.

Color of skin, languages, religions, and traditions
are all part of the magnificence of humanity.
Honor diversity.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Loyalty to the family must be merged into loyalty to the community,
loyalty to the community into loyalty to the nation,
and loyalty to the nation into loyalty to mankind.
The citizen of the future must be a citizen of the world.
- Thomas Cochrane

Few are the giants of the soul who actually feel
that the human race is their family circle.
- Freya Stark

Further reading: We are All Brothers and Sisters

All things share the same breath

War

Unity with Spirit and All Creation

Natural Web
     

Bitterness is Not Constructive

 

It's one of life's great paradoxes ...
Accepting with gratitude whatever life throws at us
is critical to happiness.
Yet without a goal and commitment, life loses much of its value.
The best we can do in the face of this paradox
is to play to win, but be cheerful in defeat
and ready to play again.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

The greatest test of courage on earth
is to bear defeat without losing heart.
- Robert Ingersoll

Remember you will not always win.
Some days, the most resourceful individual will taste defeat.
But there is, in this case, always tomorrow -
after you have done your best to achieve success today.
- Maxwell Maltz

Never succumb to the temptation of bitterness.
- Martin Luther King, Jr.

Further reading: Do What You Can; Trust God With The Rest (Serenity Prayer)

Make Lemonade

What is Defeat? 
      

Just Take One Step at a Time

If you don't like the way the world is,
you change it.
You have an obligation to change it.
You just do it one step at a time.
- Marian Wright Edelman

Do what you can,
with what you have,
where you are.
- Theodore Roosevelt

Sometimes you get the results you wanted,
sometimes you don't.
What matters is that you did your best.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Whatever your life's work is, do it well.
Martin Luther King, Jr.

Do not let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do.
- John Wooden

Further reading: Simply Do Your Best

Step Up to the Plate

Take Charge of Your Life

How to Feel Good About Yourself
   

Only Love Can Drive Out Hate

 

Darkness cannot drive out darkness;
only light can do that.
Hate cannot drive out hate;
only love can do that.
- Martin Luther King, Jr.

That which you hate to be done to you,
do not do to another.
- Ancient Egyptian Proverb
[There is a form of the "Golden Rule" in virtually every religious and cultural tradition.
This is perhaps the earliest.]

You never hate that which you do not first fear.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

When we hate our enemies, we are
giving them power over us:
power over our sleep, our appetites,
our blood pressure, our health, and our happiness.
Our enemies would dance with joy if only
they knew how they were worrying us,
lacerating us, and getting even with us!
Our hate is not hurting them at all,
but our hate is turning our own days
and nights into a hellish turmoil.
- Dale Carnegie

An "enemy" is a mirage -
an image of self reflected on the sands of Hell.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Jesus said: "A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. So too, a Levite [religious leader], when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan [Samaritans and Jews generally disliked and were suspicious of each other] came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. He went to him and bandaged his wounds ... and ... took him to an inn and took care of him. ...
Jesus [said] "Go and do likewise."
- Luke 10:25-37 (The Parable of the Good Samaritan)

Hate returns upon itself.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Be a Pillar of Goodness

Allow Love to Conquer Hate

Hatred vs. Love

Revenge, the Deadliest Sin?

Don't Get Burned by Your Own Anger
      

What is the Meaning of Time?

 

Time, like life itself, has no inherent meaning.
We give our own meaning to time as to life.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

There is only one time that is important - NOW!
It is the most important time because
it is the only time that we have any power.
- Leo Tolstoy

Do not dwell in the past,
do not dream of the future,
concentrate the mind on the present moment.
- The Buddha

You will never find time for anything.
If you want time you must make it.
- Charles Buxton

We must use time creatively.
- Martin Luther King, Jr.

Who forces time is pushed back by time;
who yields to time finds time on his side.
- The Talmud

Time stays long enough for anyone who will use it.
- Leonardo da Vinci

Don't fight against time.
Develop a comfort and friendship with time.
Time enjoyed is never time wasted.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Today's affirmation: Time is my friend.

Further reading: Your Relationship with Time

Master of Patience

Make Time For Yourself

Everything Happens In Its Own Time

Your To-Do List
        

Grant others your unconditional love and acceptance

 

Where there is great love there are always miracles.
- Willa Cather

The greatest gift that you can give to others is the
gift of unconditional love and acceptance.
- Brian Tracy

Love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy into friend.
- Martin Luther King, Jr.

As selfishness and complaint
pervert and cloud the mind,
so love with its joy
clears and sharpens the vision.
- Helen Keller

Love is the greatest force for good.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Where love is, there God is also.
- Mohandas (Mahatma) Gandhi

Further reading: Love: the Greatest Force for Good.

Where There is Love, Nothing is Missing - a Parable

Miracles are Expressions of Love
       

The True Measure of a Person is How Kind They are to All Others

 

The true measure of a man is how he treats someone
who can do him absolutely no good.
- Samuel Johnson

To measure the man, measure his heart.
- Malcolm S. Forbes

Don't let anyone else take the measure
of your worth and capabilities.
Always stand proud in who you are.
- Margaret Spellings

The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands
in moments of comfort and convenience,
but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.
- Martin Luther King, Jr.

Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take,
but by the moments that take our breath away.
- Anonymous

Further reading: This Above All, to Thine Own Self Be True

The Paradox Of Living In The Moment

Fear of the Unknown

My thoughts on "safety" versus living full-out
     

Choose to interact peacefully with everyone

 

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
     

Always Do the Right Thing

The greatest way to live with honor in this world
is to be what we pretend to be.
- Socrates

Reputation is what other people know about you.
Honor is what you know about yourself.
- Lois McMaster Bujold

The truth of the matter is that
you always know the right thing to do.
The hard part is doing it.
- Gen. Norman Schwarzkoff

You will never do anything in this world without courage.
It is the greatest quality of the mind next to honor.
- Aristotle

When people get caught up with that which is right
and they are willing to sacrifice for it,
there is no stopping point short of victory.
- Martin Luther King, Jr.

All the great things are simple,
and many can be expressed in a single word:
freedom, justice, honor, duty, mercy, hope.
- Winston Churchill

Be sure you put your feet in the right place, then stand firm.
- Abraham Lincoln

Never let your sense of morals
get in the way of doing what's right.
- Isaac Asimov

Read: What is Moral versus What is Right

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

Whatever your friends and family do,
Always do what you know is right.
...
If it's Right, stand up for it - together.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Live with Honor

Be yourself. Honor yourself.

Is there a place for Honor today?
         

Wisdom of Martin Luther King Jr

 

Nothing in all the world is more dangerous
than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.
- Martin Luther King, Jr.

Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.
- Martin Luther King, Jr.

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.

We must develop and maintain the capacity to forgive.
He who is devoid of the power to forgive
is devoid of the power to love.
There is some good in the worst of us
and some evil in the best of us.
When we discover this, we are less prone to hate our enemies.
- Martin Luther King, Jr.

Cowardice asks the question - is it safe?
Expediency asks the question - is it politic?
Vanity asks the question - is it popular?
But conscience asks the question - is it right?
And there comes a time when one must take a position
that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular;
but one must take it BECAUSE it is right.
- Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Further reading: Gain Peace Through Peace

The First Step in Faith

Serve Others

Hate Returns Upon Itself
      

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

Cultivate Perspective

Science investigates; religion interprets. Science gives man knowledge, which is power; religion gives man wisdom, which is control.
- Martin Luther King, Jr.

Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.
- Martin Luther King, Jr.

Perspective is a Prerequisite to Wisdom.
One cannot have wisdom without perspective,
but once gaining perspective, one attains wisdom.
Wisdom is the ability to view every situation
as each person who is in any way affected
by that situation might view it.
Wisdom benefits from having a knowledge of history,
and therefore a historical perspective,
as well from as having the perspective of imagination -
the realm of the what-might-be
inhabited by futurists and science-fiction writers.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading:
Martin Luther King, Jr. - Faith is taking the first step even when you don't see the whole staircase.

Martin Luther King, Jr. - If a man is called to be a street sweeper...

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

Martin Luther King, Jr. quote: Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter

 

Peace is a Tool as well as a Goal

 

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
     

Focus on Asking the Right QUESTIONS

 

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
      

Hate Nobody, Love Everybody

Love people who hate you. Pray for people who have wronged you.
It won’t just change their life, it will change yours.
- Mandy Hale

You have heard that it was said,
"Love your neighbor and hate your enemy."
But I tell you: Love your enemies
and pray for those who persecute you.
- Jesus (Matthew 5:43-44)

Hatred paralyzes life; love releases it.
Hatred confuses life; love harmonizes it.
Hatred darkens life; love illumines it.
- Martin Luther King Jr.

Am I not destroying my enemies when I make friends of them?
- Abraham Lincoln

The practice of forgiveness is our most important
contribution to the healing of the world.
- Marianne Williamson

If you want to make peace with your enemy,
you have to work with your enemy.
Then he becomes your partner.
- Nelson Mandela

Further reading: Go and Do Likewise
 
Life is a Reflection

Fear and Love Categorizing People

On the Unworkability of Vengeance
         

Test Your Limits

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