Don't be a Doormat

 

Don't live your life to please other people.
- Oprah Winfrey
[Be of service, but don't be a doormat.]

This is your life.
In the symphony of your life, you are the star.
You write the melody and the lyrics.
You are the soloist and the conductor.
You are merely a bit player in other people's lives,
but in your own life, you are the star.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

You get what you settle for.
- the character Louise in the movie Thelma and Louise

It does not do to dwell on dreams, ...
and forget to live.
- the movie Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

Be the Melody in the Symphony of Your Life.
Write the melody and the lyrics.
Be the soloist and the conductor.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: How to Choose Your Life Purpose

What guides you and maintains your direction?

Where Are You Going?

The Melody Within Your Soul
    

We create our own discontent or contentment

 

It is not our circumstances
that create our discontent or contentment.
It is us.
- Vivian Greene

We Create Our Own Joy or Our Own Sorrow.
-Jonathan Lockwood Huie

When we cannot find contentment in ourselves, it is useless to seek it elsewhere.
- Francois de La Rochefoucauld

Fortify yourself with contentment,
for it is an impregnable fortress.
- Epictetus

True humility is contentment.
- Henri Frederic Amiel

Further reading: Live Content

Rejoice

A Life of Abundance

True Riches
      

Never Kowtow to the Expectations of Others

 

Always be a first-rate version of yourself,
instead of a second-rate version of somebody else.
- Judy Garland

To free us from the expectations of others,
to give us back to ourselves -
there lies the great singular power of self-respect.
- Joan Didion

Everyone should carefully observe which way his heart draws him,
and then choose that way with all his strength.
- Hasidic Saying

Be simply yourself and don't compare or compete.
- Lao Tzu

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

Further reading: Have Confidence in Yourself

Trust Your Own Advice

Believe in Yourself

Think for Yourself
       

Cherish Quiet Time

 

Re-examine all that you have been told...
dismiss that which insults your soul.
- Walt Whitman

You are a product of your environment.
So choose the environment that will best develop you toward your objective.
Analyze your life in terms of its environment.
Are the things around you helping you toward success -
or are they holding you back?
- W. Clement Stone

Know thyself, and thou shalt know the Universe and God.
- Pythagoras

To know your ruling passion, examine your castles in the air.
- Richard Whately

We need quiet time to examine our lives openly and honestly -
spending quiet time alone gives your mind an opportunity
to renew itself and create order.
- Susan Taylor

The unexamined life is not worth living.
- Socrates

Further reading: A Truly Successful Life

To Live, Not Merely To Exist

What Is Success?

What You Become
    

Our Darknesses

 

Everything that irritates us about others
can lead us to an understanding of ourselves.
- Carl Jung

Fear grows in darkness;
if you think there's a bogeyman around,
turn on the light.
- Dorothy Thompson

Knowing others is intelligence;
knowing yourself is true wisdom.
Mastering others is strength;
mastering yourself is true power.
- Lao Tzu

Knowing your own darkness is the best method
for dealing with the darknesses of other people.
- Carl Jung

Further reading: Categorizing People

Prejudice

Driving Out Darkness
     

Learn to Become Still

 

Within you, there is a stillness and a sanctuary
to which you can retreat at anytime and be yourself.
- Hermann Hesse

Breathe; let go; relax; forgive.
- Mary Anne Radmacher

Learn to become still.
And to take your attention away from what you don't want,
and all the emotional charge around it,
and place your attention on what you wish to experience.
- Michael Beckwith

In the midst of movement and chaos,
keep stillness inside of you.
- Deepak Chopra

Never let frustration or disappointment tarnish your appreciation for
all that is good in life.
Every day say Thank You to the source of all
that is good.
The essence of your true being dwells in stillness; meet yourself there.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Solitude vs. Feeling Lonely

A Mind that is Still

Keep Stillness

Breath by Breath

Know the Difference

Let Go and Accept This Moment
    

Trust Your Own 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
    

Your Inner Journey

The only journey is the one within.

- Rainer Maria Rilke

We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all of our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time
- T. S. Eliot

The longest journey is the journey inwards.
Of him who has chosen his destiny, Who has started
upon his quest for the source of his being.
- Dag Hammarskjold

The key to growth is the introduction of
higher dimensions of consciousness into our awareness.
- Lao Tzu

Never make your home in a place.
Make a home for yourself inside your own head.
You'll find what you need to furnish it -
memory, friends you can trust, love of learning,
and other such things.
That way it will go with you wherever you journey.
- Tad Williams

Further reading: At the Center of Your Being

You Can't Escape Yourself

How We See Things
    

Let Your Life Soar

 

Let today be a day to soar -
soar your spirits, soar your joy,
soar your belief in yourself.
Let all aspects of your life soar.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Protect your vision.
Prevail over adversity.
Persevere in the midst of turmoil.
Passionately act upon your convictions.
Purposely walk into the day.
- Mary Anne Radmacher

We are strange beings, we seem
to go free, but we go in chains -
chains of training, custom, convention,
association, environment -
in a word, Circumstance -
and against these bonds
the strongest of us struggle in vain.
- Mark Twain

Today's affirmation:
I soar on eagle wings,
high above the madness of the world.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Soar, It's Your Natural State

Fly Life on Free Wings

No Limits on Your Life
     

End the War With Yourself

 

We carry our worst enemies within us.
- Charles Spurgeon

It is a man's own mind, not his enemy or foe,
that lures him to evil ways.
- The Buddha

Part of the happiness of life consists not in fighting battles,
but in avoiding them. A masterly retreat is in itself a victory.
- Norman Vincent Peale

Life is way too short to spend another day at war with yourself.
- Anonymous

Today's affirmation:
I lay aside the battles within my own mind,
and grant myself peace.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Your Own Worst Enemy

Still Your Mind

Create Peace Within Yourself

Manage Your Wayward Mind
     

Live Your Own Life

 

I am the master of my fate; I am the captain of my soul.
- William Ernest Henley

Having a personal opinion is great.
Believing that one's personal opinion is absolute truth
leads to most of the world's troubles.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Steve Jobs' Three Rules of Life ...

1. Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life.

2. Don't be trapped by dogma -
which is living with the results of other people's thinking.
Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice.

3. Have the courage to follow your heart and intuition -
they somehow already know what you truly want to become.
- Steve Jobs

Take time to contemplate -
away from the opinions and influence of others -
what you really want
and what you believe to be important in your life.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Today's affirmation:
I set my own course through the ocean of life.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Life and Death: Steve Jobs Stanford Commencement Speech 2005 (video)

Big Dream - Big Adventure

Create Your Masterwork

Fun and Success
      

Conquer Yourself

 
It is not the mountain we conquer but ourselves.
- Edmund Hillary

It is better to conquer yourself
than to win a thousand battles.
Then the victory is yours.
It cannot be taken from you,
not by angels or by demons, heaven or hell.
- The Buddha

I learned that courage was not the absence of fear,
but the triumph over it.
The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid,
but he who conquers that fear.
- Nelson Mandela

I believe that anyone can conquer fear
by doing the things he fears to do,
provided he keeps doing them until he gets
a record of successful experience behind him.
- Eleanor Roosevelt

Further reading:  Balance Caution With Courage

Don't Try to Please Everyone

Play to win, but be a good loser
     

Make Your Own Decisions, Allow Others to Make Theirs

 

Don't live your life to please other people.
- Oprah Winfrey
[Be of service, but don't be a doormat.]

This is your life.
In the symphony of your life, you are the star.
You write the melody and the lyrics.
You are the soloist and the conductor.
You are merely a bit player in other people's lives,
but in your own life, you are the star.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

You get what you settle for.
- the character Louise in the movie Thelma and Louise

It does not do to dwell on dreams, ...
and forget to live.
- the movie Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

Be the Melody in the Symphony of Your Life.
Write the melody and the lyrics.
Be the soloist and the conductor.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: How to Choose Your Life Purpose

What guides you and maintains your direction?

Where Are You Going?

The Melody Within Your Soul
    

Seek Contentment Within Yourself

 

It is not our circumstances
that create our discontent or contentment.
It is us.
- Vivian Greene

We Create Our Own Joy or Our Own Sorrow.
-Jonathan Lockwood Huie

When we cannot find contentment in ourselves, it is useless to seek it elsewhere.
- Francois de La Rochefoucauld

Fortify yourself with contentment,
for it is an impregnable fortress.
- Epictetus

True humility is contentment.
- Henri Frederic Amiel

Further reading: Live Content

Rejoice

A Life of Abundance

True Riches
      

Be a First Rate YOU

Always be a first-rate version of yourself,
instead of a second-rate version of somebody else.
- Judy Garland

To free us from the expectations of others,
to give us back to ourselves -
there lies the great singular power of self-respect.
- Joan Didion

Everyone should carefully observe which way his heart draws him,
and then choose that way with all his strength.
- Hasidic Saying

Be simply yourself and don't compare or compete.
- Lao Tzu

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

Further reading: Have Confidence in Yourself

Trust Your Own Advice

Believe in Yourself

Think for Yourself
       

Re-examine all that you have been told

Re-examine all that you have been told...
dismiss that which insults your soul.
- Walt Whitman

You are a product of your environment.
So choose the environment that will best develop you toward your objective.
Analyze your life in terms of its environment.
Are the things around you helping you toward success -
or are they holding you back?
- W. Clement Stone

Know thyself, and thou shalt know the Universe and God.
- Pythagoras

To know your ruling passion, examine your castles in the air.
- Richard Whately

We need quiet time to examine our lives openly and honestly -
spending quiet time alone gives your mind an opportunity
to renew itself and create order.
- Susan Taylor

The unexamined life is not worth living.
- Socrates

Further reading: A Truly Successful Life

To Live, Not Merely To Exist

What Is Success?

What You Become
    

Examine Your Own Darkness

 

Everything that irritates us about others
can lead us to an understanding of ourselves.
- Carl Jung

Fear grows in darkness;
if you think there's a bogeyman around,
turn on the light.
- Dorothy Thompson

Knowing others is intelligence;
knowing yourself is true wisdom.
Mastering others is strength;
mastering yourself is true power.
- Lao Tzu

Knowing your own darkness is the best method
for dealing with the darknesses of other people.
- Carl Jung

Further reading: Categorizing People

Prejudice

Driving Out Darkness
     

Cherish Stillness

Within you, there is a stillness and a sanctuary
to which you can retreat at anytime and be yourself.
- Hermann Hesse

Breathe; let go; relax; forgive.
- Mary Anne Radmacher

Learn to become still.
And to take your attention away from what you don't want,
and all the emotional charge around it,
and place your attention on what you wish to experience.
- Michael Beckwith

In the midst of movement and chaos,
keep stillness inside of you.
- Deepak Chopra

Never let frustration or disappointment tarnish your appreciation for
all that is good in life.
Every day say Thank You to the source of all
that is good.
The essence of your true being dwells in stillness; meet yourself there.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Solitude vs. Feeling Lonely

A Mind that is Still

Keep Stillness

Breath by Breath

Know the Difference

Let Go and Accept This Moment
    

Don't Believe, Use Reason and Critical Analysis

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
    

The Journey Inwards

 

The only journey is the one within.

- Rainer Maria Rilke

We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all of our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time
- T. S. Eliot

The longest journey is the journey inwards.
Of him who has chosen his destiny, Who has started
upon his quest for the source of his being.
- Dag Hammarskjold

The key to growth is the introduction of
higher dimensions of consciousness into our awareness.
- Lao Tzu

Never make your home in a place.
Make a home for yourself inside your own head.
You'll find what you need to furnish it -
memory, friends you can trust, love of learning,
and other such things.
That way it will go with you wherever you journey.
- Tad Williams

Further reading: At the Center of Your Being

You Can't Escape Yourself

How We See Things