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 Make Assumptions; Don't Hold Expectations

Cultivate a Beginner Mind.
(be open to newness)

Bringing a childlike wonder
and a beginner's mind to life
maximizes both success and joy.

- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Become more and more innocent,

less knowledgeable and more childlike.
Take life as fun -
because that's precisely what it is!

- Osho

Innocence isn't ever lost completely;
we just need to maintain our goodness to regain it.
- Jewel

Children are born innocent.
Before they are domesticated they live in the moment,
love without fear, and don't even think about the opinions of others.
- don Miguel Ruiz

Over the years, we come to see life as we expect it to be. We make assumptions that support how we "KNOW" that things ARE. We make expectations of others and of ourselves based on those assumptions. For example, we "KNOW" what kinds of people are "good" people and which kinds or people are "bad" people.

Imagine what life would be like if you could forget all the past resentments and perceived offenses that color your thinking and your emotions. Buddhists call that state "beginner mind" - an opening to experience life without the jaundiced filter of past disappointments, to move past assumptions about the nature of life, and really SEE your surroundings - especially the people you interact with - with new eyes.

Today is your day to shed the scales from your eyes.

Further reading: Reverence

Growing Up - Staying Young

Natural Web
    

How to Deal with Anger and Frustration

When you are angry or frustrated, what comes out?
Whatever it is, it's a good indication of what you're made of.
- H. Jackson Brown, Jr.

Consult not your fears but your hopes and your dreams.
Think not about your frustrations,
but about your unfulfilled potential.
Concern yourself not with what you tried and failed in,
but with what it is still possible for you to do.
- Pope John XXIII

Our frustration is greater when we have much and want more
than when we have nothing and want some.
We are less dissatisfied when we lack many things than
when we seem to lack but one thing.
- Eric Hoffer

If you get frustrated by some of your family,
focus on the good aspects of your relationship
and attempt to overlook the irritations.
Then give thanks for everyone who plays a part in your life.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

My recipe for dealing with anger and frustration:
set the kitchen timer for twenty minutes,
cry, rant, and rave, and at the sound of the bell,
simmer down and go about business as usual.
- Phyllis Diller

All that is necessary to break the spell of inertia and frustration is this:
Act as if it were impossible to fail.
That is the talisman, the formula, the command of right
about face which turns us from failure to success.
- Dorthea Brande

Redirect the substantial energy of your frustration
and turn it into positive,
effective, unstoppable determination.
- Ralph Marston

Further reading: How to be Positive Around Negative People

s How to Move On and Let Go

When You Feel Sad for No Apparent Reason

How to Think Positive
               

Seek Creative Solutions

 

If your only tool is a hammer,
you tend to see every problem as a nail.
- Abraham Maslow
Read my thoughts about this... 

If your only tool is a bomb,
you tend to see every problem as a target.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Little men with little minds and little imaginations
go through life in little ruts,
smugly resisting all changes which would jar their little worlds.
- Zig Ziglar

If at first you don't succeed, get a bigger hammer.
- Alan Lewis
[Sometimes a bigger hammer works, but it isn't a very creative approach.]

Thaw with her gentle persuasion is more powerful
than Thor with his hammer.
The one melts, the other breaks into pieces.
- Henry David Thoreau

Further reading: 9 Secrets For Getting Un-Stuck

Focus and Flexibility

Be Present in the Moment

Our Habits

Adaptability
     

Forgiveness Creates New Beginnings

 

Forgiveness is the cleansing fire that burns away old regrets and resentments.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Forgiveness is the key to happiness.
- A Course In Miracles

In forgiveness you grant,
and more so in the forgiveness you receive.
- Terry Goodkind

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

Forgiveness is not a whitewashing of the past.
Forgiveness is declaring a new beginning to create space for a joyful present and future.
 - Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Today's affirmation:
I accept everything that ever has been,
with no regrets, no resentments, and no call for vengeance.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Forgive Others for Your Own Sake

How to get over regrets and resentments

Find Peace in Forgiveness

Forgiveness is Essential to a Great Relationship

Burned by Your Own Anger
      

Your Anger Costs You YOUR Joy

 

Anger is a killing thing:
it kills the man who angers,
for each rage leaves him less than he had been before -
it takes something from him.
- Louis L'Amour

Being angry is as close as a human being
can come to experiencing hell on earth.
Pause. Breathe deeply. Step back and look at the issue from a new perspective.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Anger is like a thorn in the heart.
- Yiddish Proverb

When you are offended at any man's fault,
turn to yourself and study your own failings.
Then you will forget your anger.
- Epictetus

There was never an angry man that thought his anger unjust.
- Saint Francis de Sales

Further reading: Stop Anger Before It Stops You

De-Stress Your Life

Anger is a Killing Thing

Never Speak while Angry

Overcoming Anger
     

Forgiving Heals the One Who Forgives

Forgive those who have injured you -
not because they deserve your forgiveness,
but because you can never be happy until
you release your anger and grant forgiveness.
Forgiving is not a gift to someone else -
Forgiving is your gift to yourself - a great gift - the gift of happiness.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

The remedy for wrongs is to forget them.
- Publilius Syrus

Forgiveness is not always easy.
At times, it feels more painful
than the wound we suffered,
to forgive the one that inflicted it.
And yet, there is no peace without forgiveness.
- Marianne Williamson

Forgiveness means letting go of the hope for a better past.
- Lama Surya Das

Forgiveness ... is the finishing of old business
that allows us to experience the present,
free of contamination from the past.
- Joan Borysenko

The Price of Inner Peace is Forgiveness.
 - Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: How to Forgive and Move On

Stop Anger Before it Stops You 

Forgive Others for Your Own Sake

Forgiveness is Essential to a Great Relationship
      

Find a Way Forward

All the world is full of suffering.
It is also full of overcoming.
- Helen Keller

When you are offended at any man's fault,
turn to yourself and study your own failings.
Then you will forget your anger.
- Epictetus

It isn't the mountain ahead that wears you out;
it's the grain of sand in your shoe.
- Robert W. Service

Ninety-nine percent of the failures
come from people who have the habit of making excuses.
- George Washington Carver

Where there is no accusation of "fault,"
there can be no anger.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Fall seven times, stand up eight.
- Japanese Proverb

Sometimes "bad" things just happen. Try to avoid lashing out at whoever is handiest - your spouse, your family, your friend, the government, God.

Direct your attention to finding a way forward,
rather than on assigning blame.
 - Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: How to Deal with Anger

Revenge is Never the Answer

When You Have Been Wronged
      

Avoid Criticizing or Complaining

 

If you are patient in one moment of anger,
you will escape a hundred days of sorrow.

- Chinese Proverb

When restraint and courtesy are added to strength,

the latter becomes irresistible.
- Mohandas (Mahatma) Gandhi

When angry, count to ten before you speak.
If very angry, count to one hundred.
- Thomas Jefferson

Don't Criticize, Condemn, Or Complain.
- Dale Carnegie

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

Further reading: Speak with Kindness

Listen, Really Listen

Be Kind

The Golden Rule
      

Try to Ignore Other People's Negativity - It's Not About You

The dream you are living is your creation.
It is your perception of reality that you can change at any time.

- don Miguel Ruiz

Whatever anyone else says or does, their words
and their actions are truly about themselves.
Don't take it personally when they rant,
even if they direct their unhappiness in your direction.
Their negativity is basically selfishness,
and their selfishness is about them, not about you.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

People are often unreasonable, illogical, and self-centered; ...
Forgive them anyway.
- Kent Keith
(often attributed to Mother Teresa, who kept a copy on the wall of her orphanage)

We are to take nothing personally,
least of all ourselves, for the moment we do,
our spiritual growth and journey come to a halt.
- Hopi Proverb

What you think of me is none of my business.
- Terry Cole-Whittaker

Don't Take Anything Personally.
Nothing others do is because of you.
What others say and do is a projection of their own reality.
- Miguel Angel Ruiz (don Miguel Ruiz)

If you want reality to be different than it is,
you might as well try to teach a cat to bark.
- Byron Katie

Chaos is the score upon which reality is written.
- Henry Miller

You can't get mad at weather because weather's not about you.
Apply that lesson to most other aspects of life.
- Doug Coupland

Further reading: Don't Take Rejection Personally

How to Not Care What People Think about You

How to be Positive Around Negative People

Don Miguel Ruiz' Four Agreements

Families and Social Expectations
      

Meet Life with Equanimity

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
     

 

Assumptions and Expectations Create Suffering

 

Cultivate a Beginner Mind.
(be open to newness)

Bringing a childlike wonder
and a beginner's mind to life
maximizes both success and joy.

- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Become more and more innocent,

less knowledgeable and more childlike.
Take life as fun -
because that's precisely what it is!

- Osho

Innocence isn't ever lost completely;
we just need to maintain our goodness to regain it.
- Jewel

Children are born innocent.
Before they are domesticated they live in the moment,
love without fear, and don't even think about the opinions of others.
- don Miguel Ruiz

Over the years, we come to see life as we expect it to be. We make assumptions that support how we "KNOW" that things ARE. We make expectations of others and of ourselves based on those assumptions. For example, we "KNOW" what kinds of people are "good" people and which kinds or people are "bad" people.

Imagine what life would be like if you could forget all the past resentments and perceived offenses that color your thinking and your emotions. Buddhists call that state "beginner mind" - an opening to experience life without the jaundiced filter of past disappointments, to move past assumptions about the nature of life, and really SEE your surroundings - especially the people you interact with - with new eyes.

Today is your day to shed the scales from your eyes.

Further reading: Reverence

Growing Up - Staying Young

Natural Web
    

Dealing with Anger and Frustration

 

When you are angry or frustrated, what comes out?
Whatever it is, it's a good indication of what you're made of.
- H. Jackson Brown, Jr.

Consult not your fears but your hopes and your dreams.
Think not about your frustrations,
but about your unfulfilled potential.
Concern yourself not with what you tried and failed in,
but with what it is still possible for you to do.
- Pope John XXIII

Our frustration is greater when we have much and want more
than when we have nothing and want some.
We are less dissatisfied when we lack many things than
when we seem to lack but one thing.
- Eric Hoffer

If you get frustrated by some of your family,
focus on the good aspects of your relationship
and attempt to overlook the irritations.
Then give thanks for everyone who plays a part in your life.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

My recipe for dealing with anger and frustration:
set the kitchen timer for twenty minutes,
cry, rant, and rave, and at the sound of the bell,
simmer down and go about business as usual.
- Phyllis Diller

All that is necessary to break the spell of inertia and frustration is this:
Act as if it were impossible to fail.
That is the talisman, the formula, the command of right
about face which turns us from failure to success.
- Dorthea Brande

Redirect the substantial energy of your frustration
and turn it into positive,
effective, unstoppable determination.
- Ralph Marston

Further reading: How to be Positive Around Negative People

s How to Move On and Let Go

When You Feel Sad for No Apparent Reason

How to Think Positive
               

Try New Means

 

If your only tool is a hammer,
you tend to see every problem as a nail.
- Abraham Maslow
Read my thoughts about this... 

If your only tool is a bomb,
you tend to see every problem as a target.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Little men with little minds and little imaginations
go through life in little ruts,
smugly resisting all changes which would jar their little worlds.
- Zig Ziglar

If at first you don't succeed, get a bigger hammer.
- Alan Lewis
[Sometimes a bigger hammer works, but it isn't a very creative approach.]

Thaw with her gentle persuasion is more powerful
than Thor with his hammer.
The one melts, the other breaks into pieces.
- Henry David Thoreau

Further reading: 9 Secrets For Getting Un-Stuck

Focus and Flexibility

Be Present in the Moment

Our Habits

Adaptability
     

Forgiveness is Declaring a New Beginning

 

Forgiveness is the cleansing fire that burns away old regrets and resentments.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Forgiveness is the key to happiness.
- A Course In Miracles

In forgiveness you grant,
and more so in the forgiveness you receive.
- Terry Goodkind

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

Forgiveness is not a whitewashing of the past.
Forgiveness is declaring a new beginning to create space for a joyful present and future.
 - Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Today's affirmation:
I accept everything that ever has been,
with no regrets, no resentments, and no call for vengeance.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Forgive Others for Your Own Sake

How to get over regrets and resentments

Find Peace in Forgiveness

Forgiveness is Essential to a Great Relationship

Burned by Your Own Anger
      

Your Anger Takes Someting from YOU

 

Anger is a killing thing:
it kills the man who angers,
for each rage leaves him less than he had been before -
it takes something from him.
- Louis L'Amour

Being angry is as close as a human being
can come to experiencing hell on earth.
Pause. Breathe deeply. Step back and look at the issue from a new perspective.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Anger is like a thorn in the heart.
- Yiddish Proverb

When you are offended at any man's fault,
turn to yourself and study your own failings.
Then you will forget your anger.
- Epictetus

There was never an angry man that thought his anger unjust.
- Saint Francis de Sales

Further reading: Stop Anger Before It Stops You

De-Stress Your Life

Anger is a Killing Thing

Never Speak while Angry

Overcoming Anger
     

To Gain Inner Peace, You Must Forgive

 

Forgive those who have injured you -
not because they deserve your forgiveness,
but because you can never be happy until
you release your anger and grant forgiveness.
Forgiving is not a gift to someone else -
Forgiving is your gift to yourself - a great gift - the gift of happiness.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

The remedy for wrongs is to forget them.
- Publilius Syrus

Forgiveness is not always easy.
At times, it feels more painful
than the wound we suffered,
to forgive the one that inflicted it.
And yet, there is no peace without forgiveness.
- Marianne Williamson

Forgiveness means letting go of the hope for a better past.
- Lama Surya Das

Forgiveness ... is the finishing of old business
that allows us to experience the present,
free of contamination from the past.
- Joan Borysenko

The Price of Inner Peace is Forgiveness.
 - Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: How to Forgive and Move On

Stop Anger Before it Stops You 

Forgive Others for Your Own Sake

Forgiveness is Essential to a Great Relationship
      

Focus on Overcoming

 

All the world is full of suffering.
It is also full of overcoming.
- Helen Keller

When you are offended at any man's fault,
turn to yourself and study your own failings.
Then you will forget your anger.
- Epictetus

It isn't the mountain ahead that wears you out;
it's the grain of sand in your shoe.
- Robert W. Service

Ninety-nine percent of the failures
come from people who have the habit of making excuses.
- George Washington Carver

Where there is no accusation of "fault,"
there can be no anger.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Fall seven times, stand up eight.
- Japanese Proverb

Sometimes "bad" things just happen. Try to avoid lashing out at whoever is handiest - your spouse, your family, your friend, the government, God.

Direct your attention to finding a way forward,
rather than on assigning blame.
 - Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: How to Deal with Anger

Revenge is Never the Answer

When You Have Been Wronged
      

Be Patient and Courteous

 

If you are patient in one moment of anger,
you will escape a hundred days of sorrow.

- Chinese Proverb

When restraint and courtesy are added to strength,

the latter becomes irresistible.
- Mohandas (Mahatma) Gandhi

When angry, count to ten before you speak.
If very angry, count to one hundred.
- Thomas Jefferson

Don't Criticize, Condemn, Or Complain.
- Dale Carnegie

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

Further reading: Speak with Kindness

Listen, Really Listen

Be Kind

The Golden Rule
      

Take Nothing Personally

 

The dream you are living is your creation.
It is your perception of reality that you can change at any time.

- don Miguel Ruiz

Whatever anyone else says or does, their words
and their actions are truly about themselves.
Don't take it personally when they rant,
even if they direct their unhappiness in your direction.
Their negativity is basically selfishness,
and their selfishness is about them, not about you.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

People are often unreasonable, illogical, and self-centered; ...
Forgive them anyway.
- Kent Keith
(often attributed to Mother Teresa, who kept a copy on the wall of her orphanage)

We are to take nothing personally,
least of all ourselves, for the moment we do,
our spiritual growth and journey come to a halt.
- Hopi Proverb

What you think of me is none of my business.
- Terry Cole-Whittaker

Don't Take Anything Personally.
Nothing others do is because of you.
What others say and do is a projection of their own reality.
- Miguel Angel Ruiz (don Miguel Ruiz)

If you want reality to be different than it is,
you might as well try to teach a cat to bark.
- Byron Katie

Chaos is the score upon which reality is written.
- Henry Miller

You can't get mad at weather because weather's not about you.
Apply that lesson to most other aspects of life.
- Doug Coupland

Further reading: Don't Take Rejection Personally

How to Not Care What People Think about You

How to be Positive Around Negative People

Don Miguel Ruiz' Four Agreements

Families and Social Expectations