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
     

Beauty as well as 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
     

We Need to Experience Nature and Beauty

 

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
     

Beauty as Well as 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
     

Healing, Allowing

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
     

Healing Moves Us Closer To God

Healing yourself is connected with healing others.
- Yoko Ono

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

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

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

Further reading: Create Forgiveness

Allow Healing

A Tool for Healing Your Troubles
     

We Are Called To Rise Above Selfishness

If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need
but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him?
- 1 John 3:17

Acting selfishly is human nature, and therefore forgivable.
Publicly advocating selfishness as a virtue in the name of Jesus is far worse.

Man should not consider his material possession his own,
but as common to all, so as to share them without hesitation when others are in need.
- Saint Thomas Aquinas

The only wealth which you will keep forever
is the wealth you have given away.
- Marcus Aurelius

Further reading: We Belong to Each Other

Giving Love and Comfort

Practicing Compassion

Giving of Yourself

The Power of Generosity
      

Share Without Hesitation

If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need
but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him?
- 1 John 3:17

The only wealth which you will keep forever
is the wealth you have given away.
- Marcus Aurelius

Man should not consider his material possession his own,
but as common to all, so as to share them without hesitation when others are in need.
- Saint Thomas Aquinas

Acting selfishly is human nature, and therefore forgivable.
Publicly advocating selfishness as a virtue in the name of Jesus is far worse.

Further reading: We Belong to Each Other

The Power of Generosity

Practicing Compassion

Giving Love and Comfort

Giving of Yourself
      

Relax into Contentment

He who is contented is rich.
- Lao Tzu

He is richest who is content with the least,
for content is the wealth of nature.
- Socrates

Wealth consists not in having great possessions,
but in having few wants.
- Epictetus

A good life isn't measured in material goods.
There is no quicker path to misery than coveting your neighbors' stuff.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Small Pleasures

Emulate the Patience of Nature

Burden of Jealousy

Living in the Present

Healing and Moving Forward

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

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

Further reading: Allow Healing

Forgiveness

A Tool for Healing Your Troubles
     

Victim of Your Own "Story"

Beware the Rattlesnake of the Mind
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

"Rattlesnake of the Mind" is a metaphor inspired by the Zen term, "Monkey Mind," which refers to the mind's tendency to invent an unending sequence of creative stories about everything we see and hear.

Life does not consist mainly,
or even largely, of facts or happenings.
It consist mainly of the storm of thoughts
that is forever flowing through one's head.
- Mark Twain

The most erroneous stories are those
we think we know best -
and therefore never scrutinize or question.
- Stephen Jay Gould

Cease lying to yourself, and stop telling yourself stories
about why you behave the way you do.
Stop blaming your behavior on other people
and take responsibility for your emotional reactions.
- Sheri Rosenthal

The greatest obstacle to a Joyful Life
is your "story" about your life.
Your story is filled with perceived needs and obligations,
and littered with resentments and regrets.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Stilling Your Mind

Overflowing Cup of Tea - Zen Koan

Opening Your Mind

Ten Little Tips to Feel Happier Right Now
    

Love as a Free-Will Gift

Love me when I least deserve it,
because that's when I really need it.
- Swedish Proverb

Remember, we all stumble, every one of us.
That's why it's a comfort to go hand in hand.
- Emily Kimbrough

Love cures people - both the ones who give it
and the ones who receive it.
- Karl A. Menninger

Love wasn't put in your heart to stay.
Love isn't love until you give it away.
- Michael W. Smith

Who, being loved, is poor?
- Oscar Wilde

Love without jealousy. Love without need.
Let love be an unconditional gift.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Where there is Great Love

The Power of Unconditional Love

Love Tenderly
    

Supporting Each Other

If we have no peace,
it is because we have forgotten
that we belong to each other.
- Mother Teresa

Our prime purpose in this life is to help others.
- Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama

Nothing is so hard for those who abound in riches
as to conceive how others can be in want.
- Jonathan Swift

If you are healthy, support those who are sick.
If you have a job, support those who have lost theirs.
If you are strong, support those who are feeble of body or mind.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: A Truly Successful Life

Helping Others

Commitment To Service

Feed Just One
   

Why Hurry?

There is more to life than increasing its speed.
- Mohandas (Mahatma) Gandhi

He who sows hurry reaps indigestion.
- Robert Louis Stevenson

"Hurry up" ranks right up there with "you need to" as a destroyer of our humanity.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Is a deadline worth your health and happiness?
Consider a gentler, quieter, slower life.
Pause to smell the roses, to breathe, to take a quiet moment for yourself.

Let today be a day to remember that you get to CHOOSE how you spend your time.

Further reading: Using Your Time Wisely

Your To-Do List

Master of Patience

Don't Fight Against Time
  

Letting Go and Accepting This Moment

Give yourself permission to allow this moment to be exactly as it is,
and allow yourself to be exactly as you are.
- Jon Kabat-Zinn

To let go means to give up coercing, resisting, or struggling,
in exchange for something more powerful and wholesome
which comes out of allowing things to be as they are
without getting caught up in your attraction to or rejection of them,
in the intrinsic stickiness of wanting, of liking and disliking.
- Jon Kabat-Zinn

Practice moment to moment non-judgemental awareness.
- Jon Kabat-Zinn

Just watch this moment, without trying to change it at all.
What is happening? What do you feel?
What do you see? What do you hear?
- Jon Kabat-Zinn

Dwell in stillness.
Observe without reacting and without judging.
- Jon Kabat-Zinn

Further reading: Just Stop It

Cease Striving

Live in the Present

Cultivate Awareness

Cherish This Moment

Choose Inner Peace

A Simple Life

He who is contented is rich.
- Lao Tzu

Wealth consists not in having great possessions,
but in having few wants.
- Epictetus 

He is richest who is content with the least,
for content is the wealth of nature.
- Socrates

A good life isn't measured in material goods.
There is no quicker path to misery than coveting your neighbors' stuff.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Small Pleasures

Gratitude, Not Worry

Burden of Jealousy

Welcome Abundance

Living in the Present

Emulate the Patience of Nature

Being at Peace

Your worst days are never so bad
that you are beyond the reach of God's grace.
And your best days are never so good
that you are beyond the need of God's grace.
- Anonymous

The will of God will never take you
to where the grace of God will not protect you.
- Anonymous

The wise man in the storm prays God,
not for safety from danger,
but for deliverance from fear.
It is the storm within which endangers him,
not the storm without.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

You can have everything you ever need - just by asking.
All you ever need is to have inner peace, and
You always have access to The Peace Of God Which Passeth All Understanding.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want...
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil: for thou art with me
- Psalm 23

Further reading: God Grant Me The Wisdom

Inner Peace in a World at War

Finding Peace in Forgiveness

Cease Striving

Choose Joy Anyway

Preferences

We have a good life when we manage to live with both
satisfied and unsatisfied needs,
when we are not obsessed by what is beyond our reach.
- Kjell Magne Bondevik

To know what you prefer
instead of humbly saying Amen
to what the world tells you you ought to prefer,
is to have kept your soul alive.
- Robert Louis Stevenson

Happiness is a butterfly, which, when pursued,
is always just beyond your grasp,
but which, if you will sit down quietly,
may alight upon you.
- Nathaniel Hawthorne

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

Having preferences is a wonderful thing. It is great to know what you want, and to work hard to get it. However, be clear that your preferences are not needs. You can live a fulfilling and joyful life even if you get the oatmeal rather than the cake, the apartment rather than the house, fewer (or more) grandkids than you prefer - even if your preferred political candidate loses the election.

Further reading: Appreciate the Unexpected

Commitments versus Demands

Disappointment

Joy is a Choice - but Not an Easy Choice

Demand

Need

Reach

Acceptance

Serenity

Expectations

Demands

To know what you prefer
instead of humbly saying Amen
to what the world tells you you ought to prefer,
is to have kept your soul alive.
- Robert Louis Stevenson

Is freedom anything else than the right
to live as we wish? Nothing else.
- Epictetus

There is no passion to be found playing small -
in settling for a life that is less
than the one you are capable of living.
- Nelson Mandela

There is nothing I ever need to have.
There is nothing I ever need to do.
I say NO to the demands of the world.
I say YES to the longings of my own heart.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

We disrespect ourselves and our free-will
whenever we say that we NEED to do something.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Joy is a Choice - but Not an Easy Choice

Appreciate the Unexpected

Expectations are demands

Question Every Assumption and Expectation

Demands

Choice

Obligation

Freedom

Quotes about Expectation

Disrespect

Beyond the Grief of Divorce - 7 Steps Toward New Beginnings

If you have been divorced, you know it hurts - especially if your marriage had lasted many years. Whatever the circumstances of your relationship, and whatever the nature of its ending, there is always grief and regret - perhaps regret over the ending or perhaps regret over not ending the relationship sooner - or perhaps both. How to move past the grief and regret? No matter how painful, divorce, like all endings, opens the door to new beginnings. Let's examine several.

1. Get support: Don't be embarrassed to ask friends for support. Join a divorce support group. Join a more general women's or men's group like ManKind Project and share your story.

2. Reconsider your obligations: In reality, you have NO obligations. There is nothing you ever have to do, because everything you do or don't do is always a choice. Be especially clear that you don't owe anyone an explanation or justification for any of your actions - ever.

3. Simplify your life: There is nothing that you really NEED to have. Material possessions seldom bring joy. Consider eliminating whatever you haven't used in a year, and minimizing new purchases - not based on economy, but on your choice for leading a simple unencumbered life.

4. Try something new: What have you been wanting to do, but couldn't find the time or commitment to begin? Perhaps yoga, qigong, stretching, walking, a new spiritual class, a book discussion group, ballroom dancing.

5. Learn and explore: You are never too old for learning and discovery. Open your mind. Study something you always wanted to know about but that didn't seem necessary or practical - other cultures and times, comparative religion, whatever calls you.

6. Volunteer: Nothing works better for relieving self-pity than helping others who are worse off. Fill the time you would have spent feeling sorry for yourself by giving something of yourself to others.

7. Get away: If you can possibly afford it, take a trip with a group of compatible people - perhaps a spiritual journey. Also, ask what is tying you to the community where you currently reside. Now is a time to consider the question of where, and how, you really want to live.

Believe in yourself. You have free will. You, and only you, are responsible for your life.

Also read my article 7 Secrets for a Happy Life.