Do a Good Deed

 

Do your little bit of good where you are;
it's those little bits of good put together that overwhelm the world.
- Desmond Tutu

Merely to avoid harming others is not enough.
Earn your place in this world by doing good.
Be a pillar of goodness.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

No man or woman can be strong, gentle,
pure, and good, without the world being better for it,
and without someone being helped and comforted by
the very existence of that goodness.
- Phillips Brooks

How far that little candle throws his beams!
So shines a good deed in a weary world.
- William Shakespeare

Further reading: Pay It Forward

Integrity

Where There is Love, Nothing is Missing - a Parable
      

Choose to be Honorable

 

Reputation is what other people know about you.
Honor is what you know about yourself.
- Lois McMaster Bujold

If you doubt the virtue in self-honor,
remember what the flight attendant says,
"Put your own oxygen mask on first."
You are of no use to anyone else
if you have not taken care of your own needs first -
this includes your own emotional,
as well as physical, well-being.
In addition, your greatest value to your children,
your family, your friends, and your community
is the example you set, leading a great life that inspires
those around you to emulate your being.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Self-respect is often mistaken for arrogance
when in reality it is the opposite.
When we can recognize all our good qualities
as well as our faults with neutrality,
we can start to appreciate ourselves
as we would a dear friend
and experience the comfortable inner glow of respect.
- Osho

This above all, to thine own self be true.
- William Shakespeare
[Be true to your own values - live an honorable life.]

Further reading: To Earn a Good Name

Either Accept It, or Change It

Treat ALL with Goodness

At the Center of Your Being
        

Declare Today to be a New Beginning

 

 

What's done is done.
- William Shakespeare

All life is change.
Release your attachment to the way things have been,
and wend your way joyfully
through life's unfolding majesty.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

There's a trick to the Graceful Exit.
It begins with the vision to recognize when a job, a life stage,
a relationship is over - and to let go.
It means leaving what's over without denying its value.
- Ellen Goodman

Stop holding on to the past.
1) Release your regrets about whatever you may have done or failed to do that turned out poorly.
2) Forgive others for whatever they may have done or failed to do that caused you harm.
3) Declare today to be a new beginning.
Let go of the past and move on with creating a joyful new future for yourself.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Before moving on, you have to clear away your cherished beliefs.
- Dick Raymond

Further reading: Let Go of Your Attachment to Your Plans

Illusions Lost

A Better Plan

Don Miguel Ruiz: The Four Agreements - The Wisdom of the Ages in Four Sound-Bites 
      

Nature makes the whole world kin

 

All things share the same breath -
the beast, the tree, the man...
the air shares its spirit
with all the life it supports.
- Attributed to Chief Seattle
but actually written in 1972 by screenwriter Ted Perry

Let children walk with Nature,
let them see the beautiful blendings
and communions of death and life,
their joyous inseparable unity,
as taught in woods and meadows,
plains and mountains and streams
of our blessed star,
and they will learn that death
is stingless indeed,
and as beautiful as life.
- John Muir

One touch of nature makes the whole world kin.
- William Shakespeare

When we try to pick out anything by itself,
we find it hitched to everything else in the universe.
- John Muir

We are all one - the web of life.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Natural Web

All Life

All Brothers and Sisters

Unity with Spirit and All Creation
     

Consider Making the Choice to be of Service

 

Create your future from your future not your past.

Begin building the future through
"conversation for possibility."
- Werner Erhard

Imagine the future you want.
Then design that future.
Then implement that future.
Choose.
Choose to soar.
Choose to be of service.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

The golden age is before us, not behind us.
- William Shakespeare

Life is the future, not the past.
- Terry Goodkind

Fill your heart with the creative power
to accept the past,
decorate the present
and transform the future.
- Osho

Today's affirmation:

I trust my intuition to deliver
powerful visions of my inspired future,
and I empower my intent to
transform those visions into reality.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: What Are You Going To Do About It?

Create Your Own Future

Embrace Change

        

Stop the Pretense

 

Society is a masked ball,
where everyone hides his real character,
and reveals it by hiding.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

Our greatest pretenses are built up not to hide the evil and the ugly in us,
but our emptiness.
The hardest thing to hide is something that is not there.
- Eric Hoffer

We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful what we pretend to be.
- Kurt Vonnegut

Whoever you pretend to be, you must face yourself eventually.
- Al Stewart

Man is least himself when he talks in his own person.
Give him a mask, and he will tell you the truth.
- Oscar Wilde

We all have a social mask, right?
We put it on, we go out, put our best foot forward, our best image.
But behind that social mask is a personal truth,
what we really, really believe about who we are and what we're capable of.
- Phil McGraw

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

God has given you one face, and you make yourself another.
- William Shakespeare

Dignity is a mask we wear to hide our ignorance.
- Elbert Hubbard

Recognize the extent to which you hide your true nature from the world.
Consider revealing more of your true self.
...
Society censors our actions,
but our dreams reveal our true character.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: How To Not Care What Others Think

Need For Approval

How to Be Yourself

What lessons might Halloween hold for us?     

What You Call Something or Someone DOES Matter

 

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

Shakespeare says, "What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet,"
but I disagree...There is great power in naming.
"Urban wall art" and "graffiti" are very different, even when they are identical.
Think of other word pairs, like "flower" and "weed" - "antique" and "used" - "freedom fighter" and "terrorist"
that greatly color our perception of the object or person being described.
Call a plant beautiful, and it becomes a flower.
Call it ugly, and it becomes a weed.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Exercise: Consider the words that you and others in your life use to describe you. If the words are not complimentary, take action to change how you refer to yourself, and encourage others to speak differently of you. For example, if you describe yourself as "shy," choose a more positive term, such as "reserved."

Further reading: It Matters What You Call Something Or Someone

Finding Balance in Life Beats Moderation

        

Expect Nothing

 

When you expect nothing,
you can receive everything as a marvelous gift.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Expect nothing.
Live frugally on surprise.
- Alice Walker

Expectation is the root of all heartache.
- William Shakespeare

It is important to expect nothing,
to take every experience,
including the negative ones,
as merely steps on the path,
and to proceed.
- Ram Dass

Mostly, it is human to dislike surprises -
often with great intensity.
Be open to new ways;
sometimes newness just knocks on our door;
welcome it.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Choose Joy Anyway

Know the Difference

Cheer for Endings
     

Do your little bit of good

 

Do your little bit of good where you are;
it's those little bits of good put together that overwhelm the world.
- Desmond Tutu

Merely to avoid harming others is not enough.
Earn your place in this world by doing good.
Be a pillar of goodness.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

No man or woman can be strong, gentle,
pure, and good, without the world being better for it,
and without someone being helped and comforted by
the very existence of that goodness.
- Phillips Brooks

How far that little candle throws his beams!
So shines a good deed in a weary world.
- William Shakespeare

Further reading: Pay It Forward

Integrity

Where There is Love, Nothing is Missing - a Parable
      

Choose to Live with Honor

Reputation is what other people know about you.
Honor is what you know about yourself.
- Lois McMaster Bujold

If you doubt the virtue in self-honor,
remember what the flight attendant says,
"Put your own oxygen mask on first."
You are of no use to anyone else
if you have not taken care of your own needs first -
this includes your own emotional,
as well as physical, well-being.
In addition, your greatest value to your children,
your family, your friends, and your community
is the example you set, leading a great life that inspires
those around you to emulate your being.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Self-respect is often mistaken for arrogance
when in reality it is the opposite.
When we can recognize all our good qualities
as well as our faults with neutrality,
we can start to appreciate ourselves
as we would a dear friend
and experience the comfortable inner glow of respect.
- Osho

This above all, to thine own self be true.
- William Shakespeare
[Be true to your own values - live an honorable life.]

Further reading: To Earn a Good Name

Either Accept It, or Change It

Treat ALL with Goodness

At the Center of Your Being
        

Leave the Past in the Past

 

What's done is done.
- William Shakespeare

All life is change.
Release your attachment to the way things have been,
and wend your way joyfully
through life's unfolding majesty.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

There's a trick to the Graceful Exit.
It begins with the vision to recognize when a job, a life stage,
a relationship is over - and to let go.
It means leaving what's over without denying its value.
- Ellen Goodman

Stop holding on to the past.
1) Release your regrets about whatever you may have done or failed to do that turned out poorly.
2) Forgive others for whatever they may have done or failed to do that caused you harm.
3) Declare today to be a new beginning.
Let go of the past and move on with creating a joyful new future for yourself.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Before moving on, you have to clear away your cherished beliefs.
- Dick Raymond

Further reading: Let Go of Your Attachment to Your Plans

Illusions Lost

A Better Plan

Don Miguel Ruiz: The Four Agreements - The Wisdom of the Ages in Four Sound-Bites 
      

All things share the same breath

 

All things share the same breath -
the beast, the tree, the man...
the air shares its spirit
with all the life it supports.
- Attributed to Chief Seattle
but actually written in 1972 by screenwriter Ted Perry

Let children walk with Nature,
let them see the beautiful blendings
and communions of death and life,
their joyous inseparable unity,
as taught in woods and meadows,
plains and mountains and streams
of our blessed star,
and they will learn that death
is stingless indeed,
and as beautiful as life.
- John Muir

One touch of nature makes the whole world kin.
- William Shakespeare

When we try to pick out anything by itself,
we find it hitched to everything else in the universe.
- John Muir

We are all one - the web of life.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Natural Web

All Life

All Brothers and Sisters

Unity with Spirit and All Creation
     

Design Your Own Future

Create your future from your future not your past.

Begin building the future through
"conversation for possibility."
- Werner Erhard

Imagine the future you want.
Then design that future.
Then implement that future.
Choose.
Choose to soar.
Choose to be of service.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

The golden age is before us, not behind us.
- William Shakespeare

Life is the future, not the past.
- Terry Goodkind

Fill your heart with the creative power
to accept the past,
decorate the present
and transform the future.
- Osho

Today's affirmation:

I trust my intuition to deliver
powerful visions of my inspired future,
and I empower my intent to
transform those visions into reality.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: What Are You Going To Do About It?

Create Your Own Future

Embrace Change

        

Don't Pretend

Society is a masked ball,
where everyone hides his real character,
and reveals it by hiding.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

Our greatest pretenses are built up not to hide the evil and the ugly in us,
but our emptiness.
The hardest thing to hide is something that is not there.
- Eric Hoffer

We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful what we pretend to be.
- Kurt Vonnegut

Whoever you pretend to be, you must face yourself eventually.
- Al Stewart

Man is least himself when he talks in his own person.
Give him a mask, and he will tell you the truth.
- Oscar Wilde

We all have a social mask, right?
We put it on, we go out, put our best foot forward, our best image.
But behind that social mask is a personal truth,
what we really, really believe about who we are and what we're capable of.
- Phil McGraw

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

God has given you one face, and you make yourself another.
- William Shakespeare

Dignity is a mask we wear to hide our ignorance.
- Elbert Hubbard

Recognize the extent to which you hide your true nature from the world.
Consider revealing more of your true self.
...
Society censors our actions,
but our dreams reveal our true character.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: How To Not Care What Others Think

Need For Approval

How to Be Yourself

What lessons might Halloween hold for us?     

Naming DOES Matter

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

Shakespeare says, "What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet,"
but I disagree...There is great power in naming.
"Urban wall art" and "graffiti" are very different, even when they are identical.
Think of other word pairs, like "flower" and "weed" - "antique" and "used" - "freedom fighter" and "terrorist"
that greatly color our perception of the object or person being described.
Call a plant beautiful, and it becomes a flower.
Call it ugly, and it becomes a weed.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Exercise: Consider the words that you and others in your life use to describe you. If the words are not complimentary, take action to change how you refer to yourself, and encourage others to speak differently of you. For example, if you describe yourself as "shy," choose a more positive term, such as "reserved."

Further reading: It Matters What You Call Something Or Someone

Finding Balance in Life Beats Moderation

         

Have No Expectations

 

When you expect nothing,
you can receive everything as a marvelous gift.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Expect nothing.
Live frugally on surprise.
- Alice Walker

Expectation is the root of all heartache.
- William Shakespeare

It is important to expect nothing,
to take every experience,
including the negative ones,
as merely steps on the path,
and to proceed.
- Ram Dass

Mostly, it is human to dislike surprises -
often with great intensity.
Be open to new ways;
sometimes newness just knocks on our door;
welcome it.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Choose Joy Anyway

Know the Difference

Cheer for Endings
     

Bring Light to the World

 

Do your little bit of good where you are;
it's those little bits of good put together that overwhelm the world.
- Desmond Tutu

Merely to avoid harming others is not enough.
Earn your place in this world by doing good.
Be a pillar of goodness.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

No man or woman can be strong, gentle,
pure, and good, without the world being better for it,
and without someone being helped and comforted by
the very existence of that goodness.
- Phillips Brooks

How far that little candle throws his beams!
So shines a good deed in a weary world.
- William Shakespeare

Further reading: Pay It Forward

Integrity

Where There is Lo

Live an Honorable Life

Reputation is what other people know about you.
Honor is what you know about yourself.
- Lois McMaster Bujold

If you doubt the virtue in self-honor,
remember what the flight attendant says,
"Put your own oxygen mask on first."
You are of no use to anyone else
if you have not taken care of your own needs first -
this includes your own emotional,
as well as physical, well-being.
In addition, your greatest value to your children,
your family, your friends, and your community
is the example you set, leading a great life that inspires
those around you to emulate your being.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Self-respect is often mistaken for arrogance
when in reality it is the opposite.
When we can recognize all our good qualities
as well as our faults with neutrality,
we can start to appreciate ourselves
as we would a dear friend
and experience the comfortable inner glow of respect.
- Osho

This above all, to thine own self be true.
- William Shakespeare
[Be true to your own values - live an honorable life.]

Further reading: To Earn a Good Name

Either Accept It, or Change It

Treat ALL with Goodness

At the Center of Your Being
        

What's Done is Done, Let it Be

 

 

What's done is done.
- William Shakespeare

All life is change.
Release your attachment to the way things have been,
and wend your way joyfully
through life's unfolding majesty.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

There's a trick to the Graceful Exit.
It begins with the vision to recognize when a job, a life stage,
a relationship is over - and to let go.
It means leaving what's over without denying its value.
- Ellen Goodman

Stop holding on to the past.
1) Release your regrets about whatever you may have done or failed to do that turned out poorly.
2) Forgive others for whatever they may have done or failed to do that caused you harm.
3) Declare today to be a new beginning.
Let go of the past and move on with creating a joyful new future for yourself.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Before moving on, you have to clear away your cherished beliefs.
- Dick Raymond

Further reading: Let Go of Your Attachment to Your Plans

Illusions Lost

A Better Plan

Don Miguel Ruiz: The Four Agreements - The Wisdom of the Ages in Four Sound-Bites 
      

One Breath, One Spirit

 

All things share the same breath -
the beast, the tree, the man...
the air shares its spirit
with all the life it supports.
- Attributed to Chief Seattle
but actually written in 1972 by screenwriter Ted Perry

Let children walk with Nature,
let them see the beautiful blendings
and communions of death and life,
their joyous inseparable unity,
as taught in woods and meadows,
plains and mountains and streams
of our blessed star,
and they will learn that death
is stingless indeed,
and as beautiful as life.
- John Muir

One touch of nature makes the whole world kin.
- William Shakespeare

When we try to pick out anything by itself,
we find it hitched to everything else in the universe.
- John Muir

We are all one - the web of life.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Natural Web

All Life

All Brothers and Sisters

Unity with Spirit and All Creation