Bonus: Rainbows and Butterflies

 

Lighten up, have a rainbows and butterflies kind of day.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

May a rainbow run beside you in a sky that's always blue.
And may happiness fill your heart each day your whole life through.
- Irish Blessing

Your attitude is like a box of crayons that color your world.
Constantly color your picture gray, and your picture will always be bleak.
Try adding some bright colors to the picture by including humor,
and your picture begins to lighten up.
- Allen Klein

The only limits in our life are those we impose on ourselves.
- Bob Proctor

The best portion of a good man's life
is his little, nameless, unremembered
acts of kindness and of love.
- William Wordsworth

Further reading: Cherish the Whimsey

Life as Play

Boldly Paint Your Life

Simple Living and Small Pleasures
      

Life is too important to be spent being unsmiling, grim, and humorless

Life is too important to be taken seriously.
- Oscar Wilde

Oscar Wilde was a writer, playwright, humorist, satirist,
and astute observer of the human condition.
What does he mean by, "Life is too important to be taken seriously?"
Is it just a simple joke?

"Serious" can mean thoughtful, careful and profound,
but it also can mean unsmiling, grim, and humorless.

Life is too important to be spent being unsmiling, grim, and humorless.

Dance lightly with life today and every day.
Life is too short not to be joyful and celebrate each day.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Seriousness is a sickness; your sense of humor
makes you more human, more humble.
The sense of humor - according to me -
is one of the most essential parts of religiousness.
- Osho

Your attitude is like a box of crayons that color your world.
Constantly color your picture gray, and your picture will always be bleak.
Try adding some bright colors to the picture by including humor,
and your picture begins to lighten up.
- Allen Klein

Smile.
Today would be a wonderful day
not to take life so seriously.
Today may end up the way you prefer -
and it may not.
Happiness is not about being a winner -
it's about being gentle with life -
being gentle with yourself.
Let life be a dance,
and choose the kind of
dance you want for today -
perhaps a gentle loving dance.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Humor in the Face of Adversity

As a Child Again

Be Gentle with Yourself

Time to Smell the Flowers
      

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
      

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)
     

Choose to Enjoy the Journey of 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

Life is a Journey - Enjoy the Journey.
Life is not a race to test
who can finish first or who can end up with the most loot.
Rather, life is best enjoyed as a meander -
watching the view to left and right - above and below -
as the days slowly move past in dress review.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

March on. Do not tarry. To go forward
is to move toward perfection.
March on, and fear not the thorns,
or the sharp stones on life's path.
- Khalil Gibran

It is better to travel well than to arrive.
- The Buddha

Further reading: Enjoy Life

Be Flexible

Choose to Love Life

The Secret of Happiness

Simple Pleasures

Love Life
      

Strength Comes From Adversity

 

Life is not about waiting for the storm to pass...
It's about learning how to dance in the rain.
- Vivian Greene

When the tempest rages, when the thunders roar,
and the lightnings blaze around us,
it is then that the truly brave man stands firm at his post.
- Luther Martin

If you spend your whole life waiting for the storm,
you'll never enjoy the sunshine.
- Morris West

Be thou the rainbow in the storms of life.
The evening beam that smiles the clouds away,
and tints tomorrow with prophetic ray.
- Lord Byron

Is today a day to gather strength from the storm -
a day to to learn life lessons for the next battle?
Or is today a day to sit by the fire and watch the storm rage outside?
Either way, the storm is just life.
Give thanks for all of Life.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: How to Move On and Let Go

Zero-Based Gratitude

Celebrating Rainbows and Butterflies - the Small Miracles of Our Life
      

May You Delight in Dancing Lightly With Life

 

May your life always be Counterpoint to the Clamor of the World.
May you delight in Dancing Lightly With Life.
May you soar on eagle wings, high above the madness of the world.
May you always sing Melody in the Symphony of Your Life.
May you taste, smell, and touch your dreams of a beautiful tomorrow.
May your sun always shine, and your sky be forever blue.

- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

When we get too caught up in the busyness of the world,

we lose connection with one another - and ourselves.
- Jack Kornfield

Wherever I am, the world comes after me.
It offers me its busyness.
It does not believe that I do not want it.
- Mary Oliver

The world clamors, "Do more! Be all that you can be!"
But our Father whispers, "Be still and know that I am God [Psalm 46:10]."
- Joanna Weaver

Today's affirmation:
I am Counterpoint to the Clamor of the World.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Ten Little Tips to Feel Happier Right Now

A Life of Harmony

Make Healthy Choices to Relieve Stress

Try Meditation

12 Ways to De-Stress Your Life
    

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)
    

Mastery

 

A happy life consists not in the absence,
but in the mastery of hardships.
- Helen Keller

Only one who devotes himself to a cause
with his whole strength and soul
can be a true master.
For this reason mastery demands all of a person.
- Albert Einstein

Self-disciplined begins with the mastery of your thoughts.
If you don't control what you think,
you can't control what you do.
Simply, self-discipline enables you
to think first and act afterward.
- Napoleon Hill

How different our lives are when we
really know what is deeply important to us,
and keeping that picture in mind,
we manage ourselves each day
to be and to do what really matters most.
- Stephen Covey

Further reading: How to Choose Your Life Purpose

Master of My Emotions

Live Your Inspired Life

Master of My Fate

Laugh at Life
            

To deny the facts would be illogical

 

Some things you can change, others you need to work with.
But the worst choice is to pretend that things aren't the way they really are.
Begin with the facts, then make your choices.

Do not rail against life. [Do not complain about life.]
Make positive contributions where you can.
Practice gracious acceptance elsewhere.
And express daily gratitude for all of life.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

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

He who avoids complaint invites happiness.
- Abu Bakr

How is it that one rails against that
which is nearly a certainty?
- Mary Anne Radmacher

To deny the facts would be illogical.
- the character Spock in the television series Star Trek

Further reading: Do What You Can; Trust God With The Rest

Don't Resist Life

I Will Fear No Evil

Serenity rather than Fear
      

Rainbows and Butterflies

Lighten up, have a rainbows and butterflies kind of day.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

May a rainbow run beside you in a sky that's always blue.
And may happiness fill your heart each day your whole life through.
- Irish Blessing

Your attitude is like a box of crayons that color your world.
Constantly color your picture gray, and your picture will always be bleak.
Try adding some bright colors to the picture by including humor,
and your picture begins to lighten up.
- Allen Klein

The only limits in our life are those we impose on ourselves.
- Bob Proctor

The best portion of a good man's life
is his little, nameless, unremembered
acts of kindness and of love.
- William Wordsworth

Further reading: Cherish the Whimsey

Life as Play

Boldly Paint Your Life

Simple Living and Small Pleasures
      

Your sense of humor makes you more human, more humble

Life is too important to be taken seriously.
- Oscar Wilde

Oscar Wilde was a writer, playwright, humorist, satirist,
and astute observer of the human condition.
What does he mean by, "Life is too important to be taken seriously?"
Is it just a simple joke?

"Serious" can mean thoughtful, careful and profound,
but it also can mean unsmiling, grim, and humorless.

Life is too important to be spent being unsmiling, grim, and humorless.

Dance lightly with life today and every day.
Life is too short not to be joyful and celebrate each day.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Seriousness is a sickness; your sense of humor
makes you more human, more humble.
The sense of humor - according to me -
is one of the most essential parts of religiousness.
- Osho

Your attitude is like a box of crayons that color your world.
Constantly color your picture gray, and your picture will always be bleak.
Try adding some bright colors to the picture by including humor,
and your picture begins to lighten up.
- Allen Klein

Smile.
Today would be a wonderful day
not to take life so seriously.
Today may end up the way you prefer -
and it may not.
Happiness is not about being a winner -
it's about being gentle with life -
being gentle with yourself.
Let life be a dance,
and choose the kind of
dance you want for today -
perhaps a gentle loving dance.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Humor in the Face of Adversity

As a Child Again

Be Gentle with Yourself

Time to Smell the Flowers
      

Live to experience something new each day

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
      

Cherish Your Little Spark of Madness

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)
     

Savor the Journey of 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

Life is a Journey - Enjoy the Journey.
Life is not a race to test
who can finish first or who can end up with the most loot.
Rather, life is best enjoyed as a meander -
watching the view to left and right - above and below -
as the days slowly move past in dress review.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

March on. Do not tarry. To go forward
is to move toward perfection.
March on, and fear not the thorns,
or the sharp stones on life's path.
- Khalil Gibran

It is better to travel well than to arrive.
- The Buddha

Further reading: Enjoy Life

Be Flexible

Choose to Love Life

The Secret of Happiness

Simple Pleasures

Love Life
      

Gather Strength from the Storm

Life is not about waiting for the storm to pass...
It's about learning how to dance in the rain.
- Vivian Greene

When the tempest rages, when the thunders roar,
and the lightnings blaze around us,
it is then that the truly brave man stands firm at his post.
- Luther Martin

If you spend your whole life waiting for the storm,
you'll never enjoy the sunshine.
- Morris West

Be thou the rainbow in the storms of life.
The evening beam that smiles the clouds away,
and tints tomorrow with prophetic ray.
- Lord Byron

Is today a day to gather strength from the storm -
a day to to learn life lessons for the next battle?
Or is today a day to sit by the fire and watch the storm rage outside?
Either way, the storm is just life.
Give thanks for all of Life.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: How to Move On and Let Go

Zero-Based Gratitude

Celebrating Rainbows and Butterflies - the Small Miracles of Our Life
      

Resist the Lure of the Clamor of the World

May your life always be Counterpoint to the Clamor of the World.
May you delight in Dancing Lightly With Life.
May you soar on eagle wings, high above the madness of the world.
May you always sing Melody in the Symphony of Your Life.
May you taste, smell, and touch your dreams of a beautiful tomorrow.
May your sun always shine, and your sky be forever blue.

- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

When we get too caught up in the busyness of the world,

we lose connection with one another - and ourselves.
- Jack Kornfield

Wherever I am, the world comes after me.
It offers me its busyness.
It does not believe that I do not want it.
- Mary Oliver

The world clamors, "Do more! Be all that you can be!"
But our Father whispers, "Be still and know that I am God [Psalm 46:10]."
- Joanna Weaver

Today's affirmation:
I am Counterpoint to the Clamor of the World.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Ten Little Tips to Feel Happier Right Now

A Life of Harmony

Make Healthy Choices to Relieve Stress

Try Meditation

12 Ways to De-Stress Your Life
    

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)
    

Self-Discipline

 

A happy life consists not in the absence,
but in the mastery of hardships.
- Helen Keller

Only one who devotes himself to a cause
with his whole strength and soul
can be a true master.
For this reason mastery demands all of a person.
- Albert Einstein

Self-disciplined begins with the mastery of your thoughts.
If you don't control what you think,
you can't control what you do.
Simply, self-discipline enables you
to think first and act afterward.
- Napoleon Hill

How different our lives are when we
really know what is deeply important to us,
and keeping that picture in mind,
we manage ourselves each day
to be and to do what really matters most.
- Stephen Covey

Further reading: How to Choose Your Life Purpose

Master of My Emotions

Live Your Inspired Life

Master of My Fate

Laugh at Life
            

Don't Fight Reality

 

Some things you can change, others you need to work with.
But the worst choice is to pretend that things aren't the way they really are.
Begin with the facts, then make your choices.

Do not rail against life. [Do not complain about life.]
Make positive contributions where you can.
Practice gracious acceptance elsewhere.
And express daily gratitude for all of life.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

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

He who avoids complaint invites happiness.
- Abu Bakr

How is it that one rails against that
which is nearly a certainty?
- Mary Anne Radmacher

To deny the facts would be illogical.
- the character Spock in the television series Star Trek

Further reading: Do What You Can; Trust God With The Rest

Don't Resist Life

I Will Fear No Evil

Serenity rather than Fear