Our Purpose is to Help Others

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

Life is not a having and a getting, but a being and a becoming.
- Matthew Arnold

For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink:
I was a stranger, and ye took me in: Naked, and ye clothed me:
I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me.
...
Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these
my brethren, ye have done it unto me.
Matthew 25:35-40

The only commandment that really matters
is universal kindness:
Be as kind as you can to everyone.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Charity: To Do God's Work

Measure of Your Heart

The Purpose of Our Lives

Basic Kindness
    

Opportunity in Times of Trouble

Opportunities to find deeper powers within ourselves
come when life seems most challenging.
- Joseph Campbell

Facing a difficulty requires a willingness of heart.
- Mary Anne Radmacher

Opportunities multiply as they are seized.
- Sun Tzu

When written in Chinese, the word "crisis"
is composed of two characters.
One represents danger and the other represents opportunity.
- John F. Kennedy

Further reading: When Life Appears Difficult

How Hard?

The Quiet Voice of Courage

Life's Daring Adventure
      

Be True to Your Own Values - Live an Honorable Life

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

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 or faults with neutrality,
we can start to appreciate ourselves
as we would a dear friend
and experience the comfortable inner glow of respect.
- Osho

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

Further reading: At the Center of Your Being

Earning a Good Name

Either Accept It, or Change It

Treat ALL with Goodness
        

First a Dream

Nothing happens unless first a dream.
- Carl Sandburg

Powerful Dreams Inspire Powerful Action.
When you can taste, smell, and touch your dreams,
you can enroll the world.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

A man can succeed at almost anything
for which he has unlimited enthusiasm.
- Charles M. Schwab

Enthusiasm is the mother of effort,
and without it nothing great was ever achieved.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

What is your dream - your life-dream?
Have you begun to live it yet?

Further reading: Follow Your Dreams

I Dreamed a Dream (Susan Boyle video)

Dream. Begin. Persevere.

I have a Dream... Martin Luther King Jr. (video)
      

A Good Egg

A true friend is someone who thinks that you are a good egg
even though he knows that you are slightly cracked.
- Bernard Meltzer

A friend is someone who understands my past,
believes in my future,
and accepts me just the way I am.
- Anonymous

Friends are helpful not only because they will listen to us,
but because they will laugh at us;
Through them we learn a little objectivity,
a little modesty, a little courtesy.
- Will Durant

One measure of friendship consists
not in the number of things friends can discuss,
but in the number of things they need no longer mention.
- Clifton Fadiman

Further reading: Tears and Laughter

Happy Friends, Happy You

Choosing Your Friends