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
     

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)
    

Make Today Your Day

 

Today is your day to paint life in bold colors;
set today's rhythm with your heart-drum;
walk today's march with courage;
create today as your celebration of life.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Love bravely, live bravely, be courageous;
there's really nothing to lose.
There's no wrong you can't make right again,
so be kinder to yourself;
have fun, take chances. There are no bounds.
- Jewel

To love what you do and feel that it matters,
how on earth could anything be more fun.
- Katherine Graham

Stop acting as if life is a rehearsal.
Live this day as if it were your last.
The past is over and gone.
The future is not guaranteed.
- Wayne Dyer

I am the poet of my mind.
I am the painter of my heart.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: The Canvas Of Life

Create Your Masterwork

Fun and Success

Big Dream - Big Adventure
     

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
      

Celebrate Whimsey

 

Today is your day to practice whimsey,
smile broadly, sing loudly,
paint your rooms in bold colors,
watch wondrous cloud animals parade your story,
search every rabbit hole
for a magical white bunny,
have caviar for breakfast
and oatmeal for dinner,
wear a purple coat with a red hat,
and dance lightly with life.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Follow Your Bliss.
- Joseph Campbell
 
You're only given a little spark of madness.
You mustn't lose it.
- Robin Williams

If being good isn't working - try being outrageous.
- Mary Anne Radmacher

Follow Your Bliss.
- Joseph Campbell

Who said that life had to be serious?
Imagine, Play, Sing, Turn Cartwheels, Be Unstoppable, Dance Wildly With Life.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

What if we like our outrageous side best?
We "know" that the "right" thing to do is to suck it up,
put the costume and the happy face back in storage for another year,
re-dress in our frown and gray flannel suit,
and trudge back to job, chores, "responsibilities," and "duty."
Stop! Maybe TODAY is the day to put the frown and gray flannel
into that dusty storage locker, and start to LIVE.
Not just today, but EVERY DAY for the rest of your life!
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Today: Do something Outrageous - just because you want to.
Take off your shoes and dance on the beach... Play in the mud... Sing at the top of your lungs... and don't care who hears you.
Celebrate today... Celebrate ME... Celebrate Life... Celebrate Rainbows and Butterflies... Celebrate Whimsey...

Further reading: Life Lessons I Learned From My Cat

Life is too important to be taken seriously

Do Something Crazy

Today is Your Day (my complete poem)
     

Take the Initiative, 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
      

Winners Dream Big Dreams

Do not lose hold of your dreams or aspirations.
For if you do, you may still exist but you have ceased to live.
- Henry David Thoreau

So many of our dreams at first seem impossible,
then they seem improbable, and then,
when we summon the will,
they soon become inevitable.
- Christopher Reeve

Winners Dream Big Dreams.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

We come this way but once.
We can either tiptoe through life
and hope we get to death without being badly bruised
or we can live a full, complete life achieving
our goals and realizing our wildest dreams.
- Bob Proctor

Further reading: Don’t Quit

Hold Fast to Your Dreams

What You Become

Boldly Sail the Storms of Life
       

Ask Deep Questions

 

Let no one think that flexibility
and a predisposition to compromise
is a sign of weakness or a sell-out.
- Paul Kagame

The boldness of asking deep questions may require
unforeseen flexibility if we are to accept the answers.
- Brian Greene

Those who can see value only in tradition,...
deny man's ability to adapt to changing circumstances.
- Stephen Bayley

In science the important thing is to modify and change
one's ideas as science advances.
- Herbert Spencer

Be resolute in your goals, but flexible in your tactics.
There are times that call for repetition and perseverance;
and there are times that require new ways of thinking and doing.
The challenge is knowing one from the other.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: I choose to adapt to the circumstances in which I find myself

New Ideas

Practice makes perfect - sometimes

Be Flexible
       

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
     

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)
    

Today is Your Day

 

Today is your day to paint life in bold colors;
set today's rhythm with your heart-drum;
walk today's march with courage;
create today as your celebration of life.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Love bravely, live bravely, be courageous;
there's really nothing to lose.
There's no wrong you can't make right again,
so be kinder to yourself;
have fun, take chances. There are no bounds.
- Jewel

To love what you do and feel that it matters,
how on earth could anything be more fun.
- Katherine Graham

Stop acting as if life is a rehearsal.
Live this day as if it were your last.
The past is over and gone.
The future is not guaranteed.
- Wayne Dyer

I am the poet of my mind.
I am the painter of my heart.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: The Canvas Of Life

Create Your Masterwork

Fun and Success

Big Dream - Big Adventure
     

Play Full-Out

 

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
      

Today is your day to practice whimsey

 

Today is your day to practice whimsey,
smile broadly, sing loudly,
paint your rooms in bold colors,
watch wondrous cloud animals parade your story,
search every rabbit hole
for a magical white bunny,
have caviar for breakfast
and oatmeal for dinner,
wear a purple coat with a red hat,
and dance lightly with life.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Follow Your Bliss.
- Joseph Campbell
 
You're only given a little spark of madness.
You mustn't lose it.
- Robin Williams

If being good isn't working - try being outrageous.
- Mary Anne Radmacher

Follow Your Bliss.
- Joseph Campbell

Who said that life had to be serious?
Imagine, Play, Sing, Turn Cartwheels, Be Unstoppable, Dance Wildly With Life.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

What if we like our outrageous side best?
We "know" that the "right" thing to do is to suck it up,
put the costume and the happy face back in storage for another year,
re-dress in our frown and gray flannel suit,
and trudge back to job, chores, "responsibilities," and "duty."
Stop! Maybe TODAY is the day to put the frown and gray flannel
into that dusty storage locker, and start to LIVE.
Not just today, but EVERY DAY for the rest of your life!
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Today: Do something Outrageous - just because you want to.
Take off your shoes and dance on the beach... Play in the mud... Sing at the top of your lungs... and don't care who hears you.
Celebrate today... Celebrate ME... Celebrate Life... Celebrate Rainbows and Butterflies... Celebrate Whimsey...

Further reading: Life Lessons I Learned From My Cat

Life is too important to be taken seriously

Do Something Crazy

Today is Your Day (my complete poem)
     

Begin Today, Act on Your Vision

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
      

Never Lose Sight of Your Dreams

Do not lose hold of your dreams or aspirations.
For if you do, you may still exist but you have ceased to live.

- Henry David Thoreau

So many of our dreams at first seem impossible,

then they seem improbable, and then,
when we summon the will,
they soon become inevitable.
- Christopher Reeve

Winners Dream Big Dreams.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

We come this way but once.
We can either tiptoe through life
and hope we get to death without being badly bruised
or we can live a full, complete life achieving
our goals and realizing our wildest dreams.
- Bob Proctor

Further reading: Don’t Quit

Hold Fast to Your Dreams

What You Become

Boldly Sail the Storms of Life        

Be resolute in your goals, but flexible in your tactics

 

Let no one think that flexibility
and a predisposition to compromise
is a sign of weakness or a sell-out.
- Paul Kagame

The boldness of asking deep questions may require
unforeseen flexibility if we are to accept the answers.
- Brian Greene

Those who can see value only in tradition,...
deny man's ability to adapt to changing circumstances.
- Stephen Bayley

In science the important thing is to modify and change
one's ideas as science advances.
- Herbert Spencer

Be resolute in your goals, but flexible in your tactics.
There are times that call for repetition and perseverance;
and there are times that require new ways of thinking and doing.
The challenge is knowing one from the other.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: I choose to adapt to the circumstances in which I find myself

New Ideas

Practice makes perfect - sometimes

Be Flexible
       

The Light of 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
     

While We Are Here We Might As Well Dance

 

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)
    

Paint Your Life in Bold Colors

Today is your day to paint life in bold colors;
set today's rhythm with your heart-drum;
walk today's march with courage;
create today as your celebration of life.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Love bravely, live bravely, be courageous;
there's really nothing to lose.
There's no wrong you can't make right again,
so be kinder to yourself;
have fun, take chances. There are no bounds.
- Jewel

To love what you do and feel that it matters,
how on earth could anything be more fun.
- Katherine Graham

Stop acting as if life is a rehearsal.
Live this day as if it were your last.
The past is over and gone.
The future is not guaranteed.
- Wayne Dyer

I am the poet of my mind.
I am the painter of my heart.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: The Canvas Of Life

Create Your Masterwork

Fun and Success

Big Dream - Big Adventure
     

Freedom to 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