Choose to Care About Others

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 ...
        

Review Your Daily Habits. Are They Supporting You?

Is today the day to stop doing what doesn't inspire you, but has become a habit?

Is today the day to begin new projects and a new way of life that truly inspires you?

Are your habits moving you toward your life goals?
Or are they keeping you stuck in place?
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Your life is the sum result of all the choices you make,
both consciously and unconsciously.
If you can control the process of choosing,
you can take control of all aspects of your life.
You can find the freedom that comes from being in charge of yourself.
- Robert Foster Bennett

The freedom we are looking for is the freedom to be ourselves,
to express ourselves. But if we look at our lives we will see that
most of the time we do things just to please others ...
The worst part is that most of us are not even aware that we are not free.
-Don Miguel Ruiz

Bad habits are like a comfortable bed,
easy to get into, but hard to get out of.
- Anonymous

Correcting bad habits cannot be done by forbidding or punishment.
- Robert Baden-Powell (the founder of scouting)

Further reading: Are You a Prisoner?

5 Secrets For Breaking Your Bad Habits

Our Habits

Running in Circles

Self Discipline

Habits - Like Water to a Fish
     

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
    

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)
    

March to the beat of your own drum

 

Set Life’s Rhythm with Your Heart-Drum
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Wherever you go, go with all your heart.
- Confucius

You can choose to follow your heart always.
- don Miguel Ruiz

The way is not in the sky.
The way is in the heart.
- The Buddha

Your visions will become clear only
when you can look into your own heart.
Who looks outside, dreams;
who looks inside, awakes.
- Carl Jung

March to the beat of your own drum.
- Proverb

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

Further reading: Choose to Follow Your Heart

Choose Inner Peace

Live from Your Heart

Change Your Heart

The Beat of the Universe
     

Assigning Blame Doesn't Fix Anything

 

We have to let go of all blame, all attacking, all judging,
to free our inner selves to attract what we say we want.
- Joe Vitale

Take your life in your own hands, and what happens?
A terrible thing: no one to blame.
- Erica Jong

A man can fail many times,
but he isn't a failure until
he begins to blame somebody else.
- John Burroughs

As soon as we find someone to blame,
we act as if we've solved the problem.
- Margaret J. Wheatley

The impulse to blame something or someone is foolishness.
There is nothing to be gained in blaming,
whether it be others or oneself.
- Epictetus

When we are disappointed, we look for someone to blame.
Declaring someone to be at fault is the nature of anger.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

When you are impeccable, you take
responsibility for your actions,
but you do not judge or blame yourself.
- don Miguel Ruiz

It is an act of great Courage to forsake all Blame.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Accusation of "Fault"

Judging Others

Why I Choose to Believe that Others are Never the Cause of My Unhappiness

Disappointment and Criticism

Categorizing People
         

The pure and simple truth is rarely pure and never simple

 

Everything is not as it appears to be.
- Proverb

About most subjects, there is not "The Truth;"
there is merely one's personal truth.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Losing an illusion makes you wiser than finding a truth.
- Ludwig Boerne

The problem with making assumptions
is that we believe they are the truth
- don Miguel Ruiz

A point of view can be a dangerous luxury when substituted
for insight and understanding.
- Marshall McLuhan

The pure and simple truth is rarely pure and never simple.
- Oscar Wilde

What if it were only an illusion?
Perhaps life is not as threatening as it appears.
Perhaps the greatest threat to our serenity
is our fear of the future -
our fear of the unknown.
Perhaps, as Franklin D. Roosevelt said,
"The Only Thing We Have to Fear Is Fear Itself."
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Today's image shows a Müller-Lyer perceived length optical illusion.

Further reading: Question Your Questions

Belief - Point-of-View

When Life Looks Hopeless

Maybe So, Maybe Not. - Ancient Taoist Proverb
    

Speak with Integrity

 

What we speak becomes the house we live in.
- Hafiz

Be Impeccable With Your Word.
Speak with integrity.
Say only what you mean.
Avoid using your word to speak against yourself
or to gossip about others.
Use the power of your word
in the direction of truth and love.
- don Miguel Ruiz

Every thought you think
and every word you speak
is affirming something.
- Louise L. Hay

Better than a thousand hollow words,
is one word that brings peace.
- The Buddha

Today's affirmation:
I open myself for the word of Spirit to flow through me.

Further reading: Our Character

What is Morality?

Power Tests Integrity
    

Find a Reason to be Happy TODAY

The key to happiness is not to have what you want
but to want what you have.
- Anonymous

Happiness is when what you think, what you say,
and what you do are in harmony.
- Mohandas (Mahatma) Gandhi

You can not find happiness by chasing after it.
Happiness comes from doing what you love to do,
and from being who you truly are.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Happiness is the absence of the striving for happiness.
- Zhuangzi

The only reason you suffer is because you choose to suffer.
The only reason you are happy is because you choose to be happy.
Happiness is a choice, and so is suffering.
- don Miguel Ruiz

Happiness is not a brilliant climax to years of grim struggle and anxiety.
It is a long succession of little decisions
simply to be happy in the moment.
- J. Donald Walters

You don't need a reason to be happy,
just a choice.
Happiness is the Choice to be Happy in This Moment
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

One can flow harmoniously with the River of Life -
or one can struggle fearfully against the River -
and the River just flows.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: The Secret of Happiness

Ten Little Tips to Feel Happier Right Now

Simple Pleasures

How to be Happy in Life by Breaking the Cycle of Self-Inflicted Suffering

Choose To Be Happy
      

Follow Your True Calling

 

It's work only if I say it's work,
but it's play if I say it's fun.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

People rarely succeed unless they have fun in what they are doing.
- Dale Carnegie

It's kind of fun to do the impossible.
- Walt Disney

What work I have done I have done because it has been play.
If it had been work I shouldn't have done it.
- Mark Twain

If we like what we do, if we always do our best,
then we are really enjoying life.
We are having fun, we don't get bored,
we don't have frustrations.
- don Miguel Ruiz

Further reading: Cherish the Whimsey

Dream. Begin. Persevere.

Realizing Success

We Come This Way But Once

Bounce Back
      

Forgive, Over and Over

Forgiveness is unlocking the door
to set someone free
and realizing you were the prisoner!
- Max Lucado

To err is human, to forgive divine.
- Alexander Pope

Forgiveness is an act of self-love.
- don Miguel Ruiz

Resentment is a Prison.
It is not easy to forgive,
but make the effort again and again.
Nothing else you can ever do in life
will repay you as richly as forgiving
and loving those you have called enemy.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

I can only have peace of mind
when I forgive rather than judge.
- Gerald Jampolsky

Further reading: Forgiveness Releases the PastAre You The Prisoner?

Treat ALL with Goodness

The Futility of Regret
   

Don't Hold Back, Engage with Life

The key to success, and to happiness,
is being fully engaged in life -
leading yourself with inspiration and committed action -
setting your own fine and honorable example.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Alas for those that never sing,
But die with all their music in them!
- Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.

Wherever you go, go with all your heart.
- Confucius

You can choose to follow your heart always.
- don Miguel Ruiz

Further reading: I Dreamed a Dream

Live With Enthusiasm

Think Big, Act Big

Choose to Follow Your Heart
   

 

Real love is accepting other people the way they are without trying to change them

 

To the people who love you, you are beautiful already.
This is not because they’re blind to your shortcomings
but because they so clearly see your soul.
- Victoria Moran

Real love is accepting other people the way they are
without trying to change them.
- don Miguel Ruiz

In true friendship, one can express
anything and everything without feeling ashamed
or afraid of being rejected.
- Aparna Chatterjee

Appreciate your friends.
Grant them the freedom to be lovable, but fully imperfect.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Accept Your Friends' Uniqueness

Like Angels

Encourage Me

Appreciating Friends
      

Just Do Your Best

Give the world the best you have
and it may never be enough.
Give the world your best anyway.
- Kent Keith (frequently attributed to Mother Teresa)

Simply do your best, and you will avoid
self-judgment, self-abuse and regret.
- don Miguel Ruiz

Success has a simple formula: do your best, and people may like it.
- Sam Ewing

Success comes from knowing that
you did your best to become the best
that you are capable of becoming.
- John Wooden

Today's affirmation:
I will do my best...
and then relax in the knowing
that I have done all I could.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Take Charge of Your Life

Play to Win, but be a Good Loser

DO IT

Ignore Your Critics
    

Trust Common Sense Rather Than "Belief"

 

Since you are the one who has to live with your choices,
be sure they are your own.
- Alan Cohen

Believe nothing, no matter where you read it,
or who said it, no matter if I have said it,
unless it agrees with your own reason
and your own common sense.
- The Buddha

Don't follow any advice, no matter how good,
until you feel as deeply in your spirit as you think
in your mind that the counsel is wise.
- Joan Rivers

The ultimate authority must always rest
with the individual's own reason and critical analysis.
- Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama

Each man is the architect of his own fate.
- Appius Claudius

Don't believe me.
I don't want you to believe me
but I want you to listen and make choices - your choices.
If what I say, doesn't work for you, leave it.
But if it works for you and that's what you want, then make it yours.
- don Miguel Ruiz

Further reading: To Thine Own Self Be True

Don't Take It Personally

Encourage Me

True to Your Best
    

Holding onto Opinions Gets in the Way of Finding Facts

It ain't what you don't know that gets you into trouble.
It's what you know for sure that just ain't so.

- Mark Twain (attributed)

If you would be a real seeker after truth,

it is necessary that at least once in your life you doubt,
as far as possible, all things.

- Rene Descartes

The more opinions you have, the less you see.
- Wim Wenders

About most subjects, there is not "The Truth."
There is merely one's personal truth.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

The problem with making assumptions
is that we believe they are the truth
- don Miguel Ruiz

Examine, inquire.
Look into the nature of things.
Search out the grounds of your opinions,
the for and against.
Know why you believe, understand what you believe,
and possess a reason for the faith that is in you.

- Frances Wright

Everything is not as it appears to be.
- Proverb

People are dumb, panicky dangerous animals and you know it. Fifteen hundred years ago everybody knew the Earth was the center of the universe. Five hundred years ago, everybody knew the Earth was flat, and fifteen minutes ago, you knew that humans were alone on this planet. Imagine what you'll know tomorrow.
- 1997 Comedy Movie "Men In Black"

Further reading: Question Your Questions

The Illusion of Knowledge

Maybe So, Maybe Not.

Expectations

Truth isn't True

Assumptions
     

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
      

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 ...
        

Is today the day to stop doing what doesn't inspire you, but has become a habit?

 

Is today the day to stop doing what doesn't inspire you, but has become a habit?

Is today the day to begin new projects and a new way of life that truly inspires you?

Are your habits moving you toward your life goals?
Or are they keeping you stuck in place?
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Your life is the sum result of all the choices you make,
both consciously and unconsciously.
If you can control the process of choosing,
you can take control of all aspects of your life.
You can find the freedom that comes from being in charge of yourself.
- Robert Foster Bennett

The freedom we are looking for is the freedom to be ourselves,
to express ourselves. But if we look at our lives we will see that
most of the time we do things just to please others ...
The worst part is that most of us are not even aware that we are not free.
-Don Miguel Ruiz

Bad habits are like a comfortable bed,
easy to get into, but hard to get out of.
- Anonymous

Correcting bad habits cannot be done by forbidding or punishment.
- Robert Baden-Powell (the founder of scouting)

Further reading: Are You a Prisoner?

5 Secrets For Breaking Your Bad Habits

Our Habits

Running in Circles

Self Discipline

Habits - Like Water to a Fish
     

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