May the world be kind to you, and may your own thoughts be gentle upon yourself. - Jonathan Lockwood Huie
Tuesday, October 27, 2026
My Burdens are Lightened When I Laugh at Myself
What appears very scary is probably nothing to fear when thoughtfully examined in the light.
Take time to laugh at yourself. Those who feel too important to laugh at themselves rob themselves, their family, and their friends of a great source of joy.
Grin your smile; giggle your laugh; unfurl your joy;
dash the last trace of your self-consciousness;
and cavort your most uninhibited play.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie
The most wasted of all days is one without laughter.
- e. e. cummings
The burden of the self is lightened when I laugh at myself.
- Rabindranath Tagore
Laugh at yourself and at life.
Not in the spirit of derision or whining self-pity,
but as a remedy, a miracle drug, that will ease your pain,
cure your depression, and help you to put in perspective
that seemingly terrible defeat and worry
with laughter at your predicaments,
thus freeing your mind to think clearly
toward the solution that is certain to come.
Never take yourself too seriously.
- Og Mandino
I will not play tug o' war.
I'd rather play hug o' war.
Where everyone hugs instead of tugs,
Where everyone giggles and rolls on the rug,
Where everyone kisses, and everyone grins,
and everyone cuddles, and everyone wins.
- Shel Silverstein
Further reading: Lighten Up, Be Happy
Laughter
The Need for Humor
Not Too Serious
Monday, August 17, 2026
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
Sunday, August 16, 2026
Man does not live to produce bread
Make your work to be in keeping with your purpose.
- Leonardo da Vinci
All labor that uplifts humanity has dignity and importance
and should be undertaken with painstaking excellence.
- Martin Luther King, Jr.
The world is moved along, not only
by the mighty shoves of its heroes,
but also by the aggregate of tiny pushes
of each honest worker.
- Helen Keller
Everything that is really great and inspiring
is created by the individual who can labor in freedom.
- Albert Einstein
The end of labor is to gain leisure.
- Aristotle
Man does not live to produce bread,
he produces bread to
live.
Work is not the purpose of life.
- Robert G. Lewis
"Man does not live, therefore, to produce bread. He produces bread to
live. The distinction is enormously important and relevant. Obviously
man must have food, and so far as our experience goes, he must work to
produce It, But work is not the purpose of life. Production is not the
purpose of life. Instead, human lives are the entire purpose and the
reason for all work and for all production.
- Robert G. Lewis -
speaking about the issues of family farms at the annual meeting of the
Interorganization Committee on Problems for Rural Youth in 1957
Further reading: A Balanced Life
Take Time For Yourself
Called to be a Street Sweeper
Monday, May 11, 2026
Love is the Greatest Healing Energy
Healing does not mean going back to the way things were before,
but rather allowing what is now to move us closer to God.
- Ram Dass
Healing yourself is connected with healing others.
- Yoko Ono
Everybody needs beauty as well as bread,
places to play in and pray in,
where nature may heal and cheer
and give strength to the body and soul.
- John Muir
Love one another and help others to rise to the higher levels,
simply by pouring out love.
Love is infectious and the greatest healing energy.
- Sai Baba
Further reading: Allow Healing
Create Forgiveness
A Tool for Healing Your Troubles
Thursday, January 8, 2026
Choose to Accept and Love All of Life
Happiness doesn't depend on any external conditions,
it is governed by our mental attitude.
- Dale Carnegie
Things turn out best for the people
who make the best of the way things turn out.
- Art Linkletter
Live and work but do not forget to play,
to have fun in life and really enjoy it.
- Eileen Caddy
Happiness depends upon ourselves.
- Aristotle
Today's affirmation:
I become happy when I choose to accept and love all of life.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie
Further reading: The Secret of Happiness
Radiate Your Happiness to the World
Say NO to Stress
Finding Joy
Ten Little Tips to Feel Happier Right Now
Saturday, December 6, 2025
Find New Experiences, New Joys
The journey between what you once were
and who you are now becoming
is where the dance of Life really takes place.
- Barbara De Angelis
Live to experience something new each day -
to learn something new, to meet a new friend,
to bring joy into someone's life,
to feel the wind newly on your skin,
to touch a new fear and a new anger,
and with focused intent and good fortune,
to find an ample measure of your own joy.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie
I will dance a little. I will move with the wind.
- Mary Anne Radmacher
Further reading: Choose to Dance
The Dance of Life
Sunday, November 30, 2025
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)
Thursday, November 13, 2025
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
Monday, October 27, 2025
Unfurl Your Joy
What appears very scary is probably nothing to fear when thoughtfully examined in the light.
dash the last trace of your self-consciousness;
and cavort your most uninhibited play.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie
The most wasted of all days is one without laughter.
- e. e. cummings
The burden of the self is lightened when I laugh at myself.
Not in the spirit of derision or whining self-pity,
but as a remedy, a miracle drug, that will ease your pain,
cure your depression, and help you to put in perspective
that seemingly terrible defeat and worry
with laughter at your predicaments,
thus freeing your mind to think clearly
toward the solution that is certain to come.
Never take yourself too seriously.
- Og Mandino
I will not play tug o' war.
I'd rather play hug o' war.
Where everyone hugs instead of tugs,
Where everyone giggles and rolls on the rug,
Where everyone kisses, and everyone grins,
and everyone cuddles, and everyone wins.
- Shel Silverstein
The Need for Humor
Not Too Serious
Sunday, August 17, 2025
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
Saturday, August 16, 2025
The Tiny Pushes of Each Honest Worker
Make your work to be in keeping with your purpose.
- Leonardo da Vinci
All labor that uplifts humanity has dignity and importance
and should be undertaken with painstaking excellence.
- Martin Luther King, Jr.
The world is moved along, not only
by the mighty shoves of its heroes,
but also by the aggregate of tiny pushes
of each honest worker.
- Helen Keller
Everything that is really great and inspiring
is created by the individual who can labor in freedom.
- Albert Einstein
The end of labor is to gain leisure.
- Aristotle
"Man does not live, therefore, to produce bread. He produces bread to live. The distinction is enormously important and relevant. Obviously man must have food, and so far as our experience goes, he must work to produce It, But work is not the purpose of life. Production is not the purpose of life. Instead, human lives are the entire purpose and the reason for all work and for all production.
- Robert G. Lewis - speaking about the issues of family farms at the annual meeting of the Interorganization Committee on Problems for Rural Youth in 1957
Further reading: A Balanced Life
Take Time For Yourself
Called to be a Street Sweeper
Sunday, May 11, 2025
Natural Places
Healing does not mean going back to the way things were before,
but rather allowing what is now to move us closer to God.
- Ram Dass
Healing yourself is connected with healing others.
- Yoko Ono
Everybody needs beauty as well as bread,
places to play in and pray in,
where nature may heal and cheer
and give strength to the body and soul.
- John Muir
Love one another and help others to rise to the higher levels,
simply by pouring out love.
Love is infectious and the greatest healing energy.
- Sai Baba
Further reading: Allow Healing
Create Forgiveness
A Tool for Healing Your Troubles
Wednesday, January 8, 2025
Accept and Love All of Life
Happiness doesn't depend on any external conditions,
it is governed by our mental attitude.
- Dale Carnegie
Things turn out best for the people
who make the best of the way things turn out.
- Art Linkletter
Live and work but do not forget to play,
to have fun in life and really enjoy it.
- Eileen Caddy
Happiness depends upon ourselves.
- Aristotle
Today's affirmation:
I become happy when I choose to accept and love all of life.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie
Further reading: The Secret of Happiness
Radiate Your Happiness to the World
Say NO to Stress
Finding Joy
Ten Little Tips to Feel Happier Right Now
Friday, December 6, 2024
Bring joy into someone's life
The journey between what you once were
and who you are now becoming
is where the dance of Life really takes place.
- Barbara De Angelis
Live to experience something new each day -
to learn something new, to meet a new friend,
to bring joy into someone's life,
to feel the wind newly on your skin,
to touch a new fear and a new anger,
and with focused intent and good fortune,
to find an ample measure of your own joy.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie
I will dance a little. I will move with the wind.
- Mary Anne Radmacher
Further reading: Choose to Dance
The Dance of Life
Saturday, November 30, 2024
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)
Wednesday, November 13, 2024
Follow Your 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
Sunday, October 27, 2024
Never take yourself too seriously
What appears very scary is probably nothing to fear when thoughtfully examined in the light.
dash the last trace of your self-consciousness;
and cavort your most uninhibited play.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie
The most wasted of all days is one without laughter.
- e. e. cummings
The burden of the self is lightened when I laugh at myself.
Not in the spirit of derision or whining self-pity,
but as a remedy, a miracle drug, that will ease your pain,
cure your depression, and help you to put in perspective
that seemingly terrible defeat and worry
with laughter at your predicaments,
thus freeing your mind to think clearly
toward the solution that is certain to come.
Never take yourself too seriously.
- Og Mandino
I will not play tug o' war.
I'd rather play hug o' war.
Where everyone hugs instead of tugs,
Where everyone giggles and rolls on the rug,
Where everyone kisses, and everyone grins,
and everyone cuddles, and everyone wins.
- Shel Silverstein
The Need for Humor
Not Too Serious
Saturday, August 17, 2024
Everything in Its Own Time
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
Friday, August 16, 2024
Man does not live to produce bread
Make your work to be in keeping with your purpose.
- Leonardo da Vinci
All labor that uplifts humanity has dignity and importance
and should be undertaken with painstaking excellence.
- Martin Luther King, Jr.
The world is moved along, not only
by the mighty shoves of its heroes,
but also by the aggregate of tiny pushes
of each honest worker.
- Helen Keller
Everything that is really great and inspiring
is created by the individual who can labor in freedom.
- Albert Einstein
The end of labor is to gain leisure.
- Aristotle
"Man does not live, therefore, to produce bread. He produces bread to live. The distinction is enormously important and relevant. Obviously man must have food, and so far as our experience goes, he must work to produce It, But work is not the purpose of life. Production is not the purpose of life. Instead, human lives are the entire purpose and the reason for all work and for all production.
- Robert G. Lewis - speaking about the issues of family farms at the annual meeting of the Interorganization Committee on Problems for Rural Youth in 1957
Further reading: A Balanced Life
Take Time For Yourself
Called to be a Street Sweeper
Saturday, May 11, 2024
Beauty And Bread
Healing does not mean going back to the way things were before,
but rather allowing what is now to move us closer to God.
- Ram Dass
Healing yourself is connected with healing others.
- Yoko Ono
Everybody needs beauty as well as bread,
places to play in and pray in,
where nature may heal and cheer
and give strength to the body and soul.
- John Muir
Love one another and help others to rise to the higher levels,
simply by pouring out love.
Love is infectious and the greatest healing energy.
- Sai Baba
Further reading: Allow Healing
Create Forgiveness
A Tool for Healing Your Troubles








