Be Curious; Be Adventurous

Believe that life is worth living,
and your belief will help create the fact.
- William James

Life isn't about finding yourself.
Life is about creating yourself.
- George Bernard Shaw

The best way to predict the future is to create it.
- Peter F. Drucker

You have to leave the city of your comfort
and go into the wilderness of your intuition.
What you'll discover will be wonderful.
What you'll discover is yourself.
- Alan Alda

Be curious; be adventurous; live life full-out.
Accept the challenge, and reach for the brass ring.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Where Do You Want To Go?

Thinking as Creation

How To Cope With Life

Create Light for Others
    

I Hope You Dance with Life

Today is your day to dance lightly with life,
sing wild songs of adventure,
invite rainbows and butterflies out to play,
soar your spirit, and unfurl your joy.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Your life within God's arms,
Your dance within God's arms,
Is already Perfect!
- Hafiz

When you dance, your purpose is not to get to a certain place on the floor.
It's to enjoy each step along the way.
- Wayne Dyer

Life is like dancing.
If we have a big floor, many people will dance.
Some will get angry when the rhythm changes.
But life is changing all the time.
- don Miguel Ruiz

Life may not be the party we hoped for,
but while we are here we might as well dance.
- Anonymous

Dance like no one is watching,
love like you'll never be hurt.
Sing like no one is listening.
Live life like it's heaven on earth.
- Anonymous (various attributions and alternate phrasings)

Happiness lies in the joy of achievement
and the thrill of creative effort.
- Franklin D. Roosevelt

When you get the choice to sit it out or dance,
I hope you dance.
- Lee Ann Womack

Further reading: How to Find Joy in Our Troubled Lives

Choose to Love Life

Appreciate Today

Today is Your Day (long form of my poem)
    

Aspiration AND Pragmatism

Remember, no matter where you go, there you are.
- Confucius

If you do not know where you come from, then you don't know where you are,
and if you don't know where you are, then you don't know where you're going.
And if you don't know where you're going, you're probably going wrong.
- Terry Pratchett

When you jump for joy, beware that no one
moves the ground from beneath your feet.
- Stanislaw Jerszy Lec

The more one does and sees and feels, the more one is able to do,
and the more genuine may be one's appreciation
of fundamental things like home,
and love, and understanding companionship.
- Amelia Earhart

Keep your feet firmly planted on the ground
as you reach for the stars.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Honor Your Roots

Perspective on Tradition: An Open Mind

A Strong Foundation

Fulfill Your Dreams
    

Welcome the Unexpected - Cherish Adventure

Faith means living with uncertainty -
feeling your way through life,
letting your heart guide you like a lantern in the dark.
- Dan Millman

Mama always said life was like a box of chocolates.
You never know what you're gonna get.
- the movie Forrest Gump

The movie character Forrest Gump describing life
as being "like a box of chocolates,"
is such a positive upbeat way of
characterizing the uncertainty of life.
I have no idea what life will give me next,
but whatever it is, it will be sweet.

Welcome the Unexpected.
Most people think of surprises as being something unpleasant.
Consider moving past this instinctive fear of the unknown
and welcoming the unexpected.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Cherish the uncertainty of life's adventures.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Sometimes the things you really want sneak in the back door. Notice.
- Mary Anne Radmacher

Further reading: The Edge of All We Know

Finding A Way

Appreciate the Unexpected

Addicted to safety?
     

Value Mystery

As soon as man does not take his existence for granted,
but beholds it as something
unfathomably mysterious, thought begins.
- Albert Schweitzer

Be thankful that life is a mystery.
There is so much we can never know.
Breathe deeply and relax into the not-knowing.
There is much that we do not have to know in order to live joyfully.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Uncertainty that comes from knowledge
(knowing what you don't know)
is different from uncertainty coming from ignorance.
- Isaac Asimov

Mystery creates wonder,
and wonder is the basis of man's desire to understand.
- Neil Armstrong

Further reading: Nothing is Certain

Cherish Mystery

Childlike Wonder

Magnificent Mystery
        

Each Day is a Gift

 

Yesterday is history,
tomorrow is a mystery.
Today is a gift.
That is why it is called Present.
- Anonymous

Do not say, "It is morning,"
and dismiss it with a name of yesterday.
See it for the first time
as a newborn child that has no name.
- Rabindranath Tagore

If you aren't in the moment,
you are either looking forward to uncertainty,
or back to pain and regret.
- Jim Carrey

Today's affirmation:
I walk today's march with courage.
I create today as my celebration of life.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Celebrating Rainbows and Butterflies - the Small Miracles of Our Life

Life Lessons I Learned From My Cat

Simple is Marvelous

What If Every Day Were Your Day

Being Fully Present in TODAY

Today is for Living
    

Growth Requires Change

 

Change of any sort requires courage.
- Mary Anne Radmacher

If we don't change, we don't grow.
If we don't grow, we aren't really living.
- Gail Sheehy

Change always comes bearing gifts.
- Price Pritchett

He who rejects change is the architect of decay.
- Harold Wilson

To live is to choose. But to choose well,
you must know who you are and what you stand for,
where you want to go and why you want to get there.
- Kofi Annan

The nature of life is constant change, yet we fight against it. Why do we fight change? Humans are creatures of habit and instinctively fear the unknown.

Affirmation: Change is the Great Adventure of Life. I welcome change.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading:  Accept Change

Success Tip: Drive Change

Take Action - Now

Better Alternatives to Complaining

How to Change the World
      

A New Year, and Time to Sow a New Crop

A world in upheaval is the breaking of the old sod -
the revealing of rich fresh soil ready for new planting.
Rejoice in the opportunity to sow a new crop.
Progress Does Not Come Gently.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Prepare for the unknown by studying how others in the past
have coped with the unforeseeable and the unpredictable.
- George S. Patton

Unexpected events can set you back or set you up.
It's all a matter of - perspective.
- Mary Anne Radmacher

This time, like all times, is a very good one,
if we but know what to do with it.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

Progress Does Not Come Gently.
 - Jonathan Lockwood Huie

There is no certainty; there is only adventure.
- Roberto Assagioli

We will only understand the miracle of life fully when
we allow the unexpected to happen.
- Paulo Coelho

Further reading: Knowledge is Soon Changed 

Appreciate the Unexpected

Assumptions

Expectations/Demands

Welcome Newness
     

Don't Measure Time, Measure Contributions

 

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
     

Life Offers No Guarantees

 

Security is mostly a superstition.
It does not exist in nature, nor do the children of men as a whole experience it.
Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure.
Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing.
- Helen Keller

There are no guarantees.
From the viewpoint of fear, none are strong enough.
From the viewpoint of love, none are necessary.
- Emmanuel (Pat Rodegast)

Our only security is our ability to change.
- John Lilly

There is no security on this Earth,
there is only opportunity.
- Douglas MacArthur

Security is not the absence of danger,
but the presence of God,
no matter what the danger.
- Anonymous

Unexpected events can set you back or set you up. It's all a matter of - perspective.
- Mary Anne Radmacher

Those of true faith don't require guaranteed security.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Life is magnificent - just as it comes. Life has no need for fancy clothes, or lipstick. Life is no pig. Our life is the greatest gift of all creation. When we are unhappy with life - when we are shocked by the actions of politicians, or corporations, or our "enemies," or our "friends," or even by natural forces, - let us not lash out in anger. But also, let us not try to pretty up life with some lipstick and some party clothes. See life clearly - no rose colored glasses - and then CHOOSE to love life. CHOOSE to be happy, be joyful, be grateful, be forgiving of everyone and of every act we believe has hurt us. Life just "IS." We get to CHOOSE our relationship with life.
Life is all in the perspective we take on it.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Let today be a day to look at your life from different and broader perspectives - perhaps a perspective of thankfulness for what you have and a perspective of wonder at your very existence and the magnificence of the world we live in.

Further reading: All Life is a Risk

Courage to Take Action

Risk a Little

Thrown Out of the Nest
           

Nobody Promised That Life Would Be Fair

 

When I hear somebody sigh, "Life is hard,"
I am always tempted to ask, Compared to what?
- Sydney Harris

Adversity can crush our spirit - or strengthen it - it is our choice.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

What if we just acted like everything was easy?
- Mary Anne Radmacher

Whenever you say or even think, "This is hard,"
that task or challenge becomes difficult.
Dread it, and it becomes terrifying.

When you choose to move past fear -
fear of failure, fear of embarrassment, fear of "looking bad," fear of losing respect -
life becomes much lighter, and most any task becomes possible - perhaps even enjoyable.
Most any challenge can become an adventure of discovery.

The secret to a great life is recognizing that life was never intended to be fair.
Life simply isn't "fair," and that's okay.
The joy of life comes from playing the game of life as best we can,
focusing far more on the love and good example we can contribute
to other lives than on demanding money, stuff, love, or appreciation.
Service becomes a source of joy when it is not viewed as a duty.

Life Is Not "Fair," But It Can Still Be Joyful.
Life is as easy or as hard as you think it is.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Do Not Rail Against Life

Strength In Hard Times

Circumstance Reveals What You Are Made Of
      

Beauty is a Treasure

 

We can only be said to be truly alive in those moments
when our hearts are conscious of our treasures.
- Thornton Wilder

Even from the darkest night, songs of beauty can be born.
- Mary Anne Radmacher

Beauty is whatever gives joy.
- Edna St. Vincent Millay

We live in a wonderful world that is
full of beauty, charm and adventure.
There is no end to the adventures that we can have
if only we seek them with our eyes open.
- Jawaharlal Nehru

See beauty in the familiar.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Beauty and Adventure in the Commonplace

Pay Attention to the Natural World

Have Eyes for Beauty
      

Explore. Dream. Discover.

 

Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed
by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did do.
So throw off the bowlines.
Sail away from the safe harbor.
Catch the trade winds in your sails.
Explore. Dream. Discover.
- widely misattributed to Mark Twain

I have accepted fear as a part of life -
specifically the fear of change...
I have gone ahead despite the pounding
in the heart that says: turn back.
- Erica Jong

No pessimist ever discovered the secret of the stars,
or sailed to an uncharted land,
or opened a new doorway for the human spirit.
- Helen Keller

Play full-out and enjoy all of Life.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Think Big, Act Big

Become a Seeker

Don't Wait!

My thoughts on "safety" versus living full-out
      

Say YES to the Adventure that Your Life Is

 

Choose in ways that support your dreams.
- Mary Anne Radmacher

In the long run, we shape our lives, and we shape ourselves.
The process never ends until we die.
And the choices we make are ultimately our own responsibility.

- Eleanor Roosevelt

Sharpen your pencil as you create the story of your life.
Ask today as you consider the many choices in your view -
what is the highest and best use of your talents, skills and abilities?
When you answer that, seize the opportunity to sharpen
those qualities even more sharply by applying your focused effort.
- Mary Anne Radmacher

The big question is whether you are going to be able
to say a hearty yes to your adventure.
- Joseph Campbell

Further reading: Choose to Soar

Pursue Your Dreams

Choosing a Joyful Life

Personal Boundaries       

Live Life Full Out

Believe that life is worth living,
and your belief will help create the fact.
- William James

Life isn't about finding yourself.
Life is about creating yourself.
- George Bernard Shaw

The best way to predict the future is to create it.
- Peter F. Drucker

You have to leave the city of your comfort
and go into the wilderness of your intuition.
What you'll discover will be wonderful.
What you'll discover is yourself.
- Alan Alda

Be curious; be adventurous; live life full-out.
Accept the challenge, and reach for the brass ring.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Where Do You Want To Go?

Thinking as Creation

How To Cope With Life

Create Light for Others
    

Soar Your Spirit and Unfurl Your Joy

 

Today is your day to dance lightly with life,
sing wild songs of adventure,
invite rainbows and butterflies out to play,
soar your spirit, and unfurl your joy.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Your life within God's arms,
Your dance within God's arms,
Is already Perfect!
- Hafiz

When you dance, your purpose is not to get to a certain place on the floor.
It's to enjoy each step along the way.
- Wayne Dyer

Life is like dancing.
If we have a big floor, many people will dance.
Some will get angry when the rhythm changes.
But life is changing all the time.
- don Miguel Ruiz

Life may not be the party we hoped for,
but while we are here we might as well dance.
- Anonymous

Dance like no one is watching,
love like you'll never be hurt.
Sing like no one is listening.
Live life like it's heaven on earth.
- Anonymous (various attributions and alternate phrasings)

Happiness lies in the joy of achievement
and the thrill of creative effort.
- Franklin D. Roosevelt

When you get the choice to sit it out or dance,
I hope you dance.
- Lee Ann Womack

Further reading: How to Find Joy in Our Troubled Lives

Choose to Love Life

Appreciate Today

Today is Your Day (long form of my poem)
    

Earth and Stars

 

Remember, no matter where you go, there you are.
- Confucius

If you do not know where you come from, then you don't know where you are,
and if you don't know where you are, then you don't know where you're going.
And if you don't know where you're going, you're probably going wrong.
- Terry Pratchett

When you jump for joy, beware that no one
moves the ground from beneath your feet.
- Stanislaw Jerszy Lec

The more one does and sees and feels, the more one is able to do,
and the more genuine may be one's appreciation
of fundamental things like home,
and love, and understanding companionship.
- Amelia Earhart

Keep your feet firmly planted on the ground
as you reach for the stars.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Honor Your Roots

Perspective on Tradition: An Open Mind

A Strong Foundation

Fulfill Your Dreams
    

Embrace Adventure

 

Faith means living with uncertainty -
feeling your way through life,
letting your heart guide you like a lantern in the dark.
- Dan Millman

Mama always said life was like a box of chocolates.
You never know what you're gonna get.
- the movie Forrest Gump

The movie character Forrest Gump describing life
as being "like a box of chocolates,"
is such a positive upbeat way of
characterizing the uncertainty of life.
I have no idea what life will give me next,
but whatever it is, it will be sweet.

Welcome the Unexpected.
Most people think of surprises as being something unpleasant.
Consider moving past this instinctive fear of the unknown
and welcoming the unexpected.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Cherish the uncertainty of life's adventures.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Sometimes the things you really want sneak in the back door. Notice.
- Mary Anne Radmacher

Further reading: The Edge of All We Know

Finding A Way

Appreciate the Unexpected

Addicted to safety?
     

Life is a Mystery and Mystery Creates Wonder

 

As soon as man does not take his existence for granted,
but beholds it as something
unfathomably mysterious, thought begins.
- Albert Schweitzer

Be thankful that life is a mystery.
There is so much we can never know.
Breathe deeply and relax into the not-knowing.
There is much that we do not have to know in order to live joyfully.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Uncertainty that comes from knowledge
(knowing what you don't know)
is different from uncertainty coming from ignorance.
- Isaac Asimov

Mystery creates wonder,
and wonder is the basis of man's desire to understand.
- Neil Armstrong

Further reading: Nothing is Certain

Cherish Mystery

Childlike Wonder

Magnificent Mystery
        

Celebrate TODAY

 

Yesterday is history,
tomorrow is a mystery.
Today is a gift.
That is why it is called Present.
- Anonymous

Do not say, "It is morning,"
and dismiss it with a name of yesterday.
See it for the first time
as a newborn child that has no name.
- Rabindranath Tagore

If you aren't in the moment,
you are either looking forward to uncertainty,
or back to pain and regret.
- Jim Carrey

Today's affirmation:
I walk today's march with courage.
I create today as my celebration of life.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Celebrating Rainbows and Butterflies - the Small Miracles of Our Life

Life Lessons I Learned From My Cat

Simple is Marvelous

What If Every Day Were Your Day

Being Fully Present in TODAY

Today is for Living