Act on Your Dreams - TODAY

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
      

Make Your Own Choice, Then Take Action

Begin today. Act on your vision. Do your best.
If you take action, you may succeed or you may fail,
but if you do nothing, the only possible outcome is failure.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

You can't let praise or criticism get to you.
It's a weakness to get caught up in either one.
- John Wooden

It is better to conquer yourself than to win a thousand battles.
Then the victory is yours
 It cannot be taken from you,
not by angels or by demons, heaven or hell.
- The Buddha

Take the initiative - don't wait for life to come to you.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

If you wait to do everything until you're sure it's right,
you'll probably never do much of anything.
- Win Borden

Today is your day to Spread Wing and Soar.
Fly Life on Free Wings, and Sing to its Glory.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: New Strength

Let Go and Begin Anew

Another Door Opens

Build Self Confidence
      

Honesty and Integrity in Action and Thought

To be a person of honor is to live with honesty and integrity in 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
     

PLEASE: Register to Vote - and Vote! Help Your Family and Friends to Register

PLEASE: Register to Vote - and Vote! EVERY Year! In EVERY Election!
In many ways, our future is determined as much by local school boards and city councils as by federal officials.

And make sure all your family and friends are registered also!
[ONE in FOUR adult American citizens are not yet Registered to VOTE!
College students and other younger adults are the most likely not to be Registered.]

Voting for the kind of America you believe in
is one of the greatest gifts you can give your grandchildren. 
Make a difference.
All tyranny needs to gain a foothold
is for people of good conscience to remain silent.
- Thomas Jefferson

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

We are called to be architects of the future, not its victims.
- R. Buckminster Fuller

Do you want to know who you are? Don't ask. Act!
Action will delineate and define you.
- Thomas Jefferson

Bad politicians are sent to Washington [and state and local government] by good people who don't vote.
- William E. Simon 

Voting is an expression of three key life principles -
CHOICE, INTENT, and ACTION.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: You Are What You Do

Either Accept It, or Change It

Walk Your Path

True Measure of a Successful Life
     

Just Do Your Best

Things turn out best for the people
who make the best of the way things turn out.
- Art Linkletter

Do your best, accept the rest.
Stop demanding joy, attention and friends.
Allow people to disregard you, it's fine.
Who you are should never depend on externalities like your image or possessions.
Every externality can fade (looks, fame, power, money, etc.)
Become ZEN!
- afcpoop on Reddit

Success seems to be connected with action.
Successful people keep moving.
They make mistakes, but they don't quit.
- Conrad Hilton

Some decisions don't turn out well,
but if you did your best,
you have nothing to be ashamed of.
Never second guess your decisions.
Keep learning, keep trying,
and always do your best.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Do you remember the things you were worrying about a year ago?
Didn't you waste a lot of fruitless energy
on account of most of them?
Didn't most of them turn out all right after all?
- Dale Carnegie

Your present circumstances don't determine where you can go;
they merely determine where you start.
- Nido Qubein

Further reading: Let It Go - Be Zen

Maybe So, Maybe Not. - Ancient Taoist Proverb

Fear of Striking Out

How to get over regrets and resentments Forgive Yourself
       

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
     

The most difficult thing is the decision to act

Those who believe they can do something
and those who believe they can't
are both right.
- Henry Ford

The most difficult thing is the decision to act,
the rest is merely tenacity.
The fears are paper tigers.
You can do anything you decide to do.
You can act to change and control your life;
and the procedure, the process is its own reward.
- Amelia Earhart

The only way to discover the limits of the possible
is to go beyond them into the impossible.
- Arthur C. Clarke

Whether the challenge is reaching the moon, sailing around the world, hitting a home run, acing a job interview, or walking again after a stroke, we can usually accomplish what we believe we can. But once we doubt ourselves, success slips beyond our grasp.

Today's affirmation:
I believe in myself.
I am unstoppable.

Further reading: Power of Thought

The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams

Life is either a daring adventure or nothing
     

The measure of your success is how many lives you have made better

Believe in yourself,
in your vision for your future,
and in your ability to take a small step
each day toward achieving your vision.

- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

To leave the world a bit better ... to know that one life has breathed easier because you have lived.
This is to have succeeded.
- Bessie A. Stanley (commonly attributed to Ralph Waldo Emerson)

Anyone who proposes to do good
must not expect people to roll stones out of his way,
but must accept his lot calmly,
even if they roll a few stones upon it.
- Albert Schweitzer

True success is bringing joy to yourself and to others.
Success is measured in lives bettered, not in money or power.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

We do not need to proselytize
either by our speech or by our writing.
We can only do so really with our lives.
Let our lives be open books for all to study.
- Mohandas (Mahatma) Gandhi

Further reading: March On

Pay It Forward

Turn Crisis into Progress

Stand Together
    

Act on Your Convictions

When you doubt your power, you give power to your doubt.
- Honore De Balzac

Action is our greatest weapon against fear.
Left to molder, fear grows upon itself,
but in the face of action,
fear is left in the dust.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

He who believes is strong; he who doubts is weak.
Strong convictions precede great actions.
- Louisa May Alcott

Make up your mind to act decidedly and take the consequences.
No good is ever done in this world by hesitation.
- Thomas Huxley

Live without certainty, and yet without being paralyzed by hesitation.
- Bertrand Russell

Further reading: Be an Instrument of Change

Action Beats Inaction

Gain Self Confidence

Feel Your Power
       

 

Seek Balance In All Things

To everything there is a season,
and a time to every purpose under heaven:
A time to be born, and a time to die.
- Ecclesiastes 3:1-2

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

One has to find a balance between
what people need from you
and what you need for yourself.
- Jessye Norman

A time for everything: a time to relax and a time to be busy,
a time to frolic and a time to lay up food for the winter,
a time to receive and a time to give,
a time to begin and a time to finish.
A time for work, a time for play -
balance in all things.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Change must always be balanced with some degree of consistency.
- Ron D. Burton

The ending of a job or a relationship
may appear as the darkest night,
but it is merely the Winter season -
the time of renewal and rebirth
that precedes the new planting -
the beginning of the next great cycle.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Balance vs. Moderation: Eight Ways to Balance Your Life

Live in Harmony

Creating Balance

Renew Yourself

A List of Gratitudes

Yin-Yang
   

Courage and Perseverance

When you get into a tight place
and everything goes against you,
till it seems you cannot hold on a minute longer,
never give up then, for that is just
the place and time the tide will turn.
- Harriet Beecher Stowe

Courage and perseverance have a magical talisman,
before which difficulties disappear and obstacles vanish into air.
- John Quincy Adams

Obstacles are those frightful things you see
when you take your eyes off your goals.
- Henry Ford

Stand up to your obstacles
and do something about them.
You will find that they haven't
half the strength you think they have.
- Norman Vincent Peale

Today's affirmation:
Even when I am afraid or unsure,
I choose to move in the direction of my goal.
Whenever I fall, I stand up,
brush myself off, and keep moving.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Photo: Talking to relatives across the Berlin Wall 1961.

Further reading: Beyond Failure

Keep Moving

Choose to Soar

Wanting is Not Enough
     

Begin, Take Action

Today... maybe I can take one step
on that profoundly complex path to peace.
- Mary Anne Radmacher

A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.
- Lao Tzu (Chinese Proverb)

The first step towards the solution
of any problem is optimism.
- John Baines

A little simplification would be
the first step toward rational living.
- Eleanor Roosevelt

Believe in yourself,
in your vision for your future
and in your ability to take a small step
each day toward achieving your vision.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: The Edge of All You Know

The Jump is So Frightening - Mary Anne Radmacher

How to Create a Great Future

Boldly Sail the Storms of Life
   

Expand What is Possible

Ask not why it happened, but what you are going to do about it.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

There are those that look at things the way they are, and ask "Why?"
I dream of things that never were, and ask "Why not?"
- Robert F. Kennedy paraphrase of George Bernard Shaw

When faith and hope fail, as they do sometimes,
we must try charity, which is love in action.
We must speculate no more on our duty,
but simply do it.
When we have done it, however blindly,
perhaps Heaven will show us why.
- Dinah Maria Mulock

Always question WHY you are doing something.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Your Attitude is Your Window

Moving Forward

An Unknowable Future

Explore. Dream. Discover.

Why?

We Come This Way But Once
       

Choose Peace and Joy

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

Our lives are defined not by the challenges we encounter,
but by how we respond to those challenges.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

My life has been filled with terrible misfortune;
most of which never happened.
- Michel Eyquem De Montaigne

The longer we dwell on our misfortunes,
the greater is their power to harm us.
- Voltaire

Don't dwell on what went wrong.
Instead, focus on what to do next.
Spend your energies on moving forward toward finding the answer.
- Denis Waitley

Further reading: Are You Scared of What MIGHT Happen?

Set Goals - Take Action

Choose to Soar

Create Your Own Legacy
    

Be Of Service - Share Yourself

Anyone who has two shirts should share with the one who has none,
and anyone who has food should do the same.
- Luke 3:11

The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.
- Mohandas (Mahatma) Gandhi

What power there is in our service
when our actions line up with our mission, skills and joy.
– Mary Anne Radmacher

The most eloquent prayer is the prayer through hands that heal and bless.
- Billy Graham

Further reading: Serve Others

The Power of Generosity

We Belong to Each Other

Helping
    

Thoughtful Action Defuses Panic

Never yield to Panic (fear so strong it prevents logical thinking).
Focus, and let your actions be thoughtful.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

The wise man in the storm prays God,
not for safety from danger,
but for deliverance from fear.
It is the storm within which endangers him,
not the storm without.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

The only hope I can see for the future depends on a
wiser and braver use of the reason,
not a panic flight from it.
- F. L. Lucas

Doubt and mistrust are the mere panic of timid imagination,
which the steadfast heart will conquer,
and the large mind will transcend.
- Helen Keller

Fear cannot be banished, but it can be calm and without panic;
it can be mitigated by reason and evaluation.
- Vannevar Bush

Further reading: Don't Panic

Take Charge of Your Life

The Nightly News - an expression of fear
         

Set Your Own Course

I am the master of my fate; I am the captain of my soul.
- William Ernest Henley

Having a personal opinion is great.
Believing that one's personal opinion is absolute truth
leads to most of the world's troubles.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Steve Jobs' Three Rules of Life ...

1. Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life.

2. Don't be trapped by dogma -
which is living with the results of other people's thinking.
Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice.

3. Have the courage to follow your heart and intuition -
they somehow already know what you truly want to become.
- Steve Jobs

Take time to contemplate -
away from the opinions and influence of others -
what you really want
and what you believe to be important in your life.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Today's affirmation:
I set my own course through the ocean of life.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Life and Death: Steve Jobs Stanford Commencement Speech 2005 (video)

Big Dream - Big Adventure

Create Your Masterwork

Fun and Success
      

Do What You Can

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
   

Vision Plus Action

Success is 10 percent inspiration and 90 percent perspiration.
- Thomas A. Edison

A dream doesn't become reality through magic;
it takes sweat, determination and hard work.
- Colin Powell

If you dream of something worth doing
and then simply go to work on it
and don't think anything of personalities,
or emotional conflicts, or of money,
or of family distractions;
it is amazing how quickly
you get through those 5,000 steps.
- Edwin Land

Vision without action is merely a dream.
Action without vision just passes the time.
Vision with action can change the world.
- Joel A. Barker

To lead a great life:
Dream, Take Action, Repeat.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Some people dream of success
while others wake up and work hard at it.
- Anonymous

Further reading: You Are What You Do

Walking Your Path

Fulfilling Your Dreams

Action Beats Inaction
    

Personal Transformation

If you begin to understand what you are
without trying to change it,
then what you are undergoes a transformation.
- Jiddu Krishnamurti

Today's affirmation:
I am the master of my emotions -
I transform fear to love, anger to compassion,
pain to comfort, scarcity to abundance,
expectation to gratitude, and jealousy to generosity.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

At all times and under all circumstances,
we have the power to transform the quality of our lives.
- Werner Erhard

Personal transformation can and does have global effects.
As we go, so goes the world, for the world is us.
The revolution that will save the world
is ultimately a personal one.
- Marianne Williamson

Revolution begins with the self, in the self.
- Toni Cade Bambara

Transformation in the world happens when people are
healed and start investing in other people.
- Michael W. Smith

Further reading: The Power of Transformation

Be an Instrument of Change

What is Transformation?

A Great Future