Make a Commitment to Understand Others

Seek first to understand,
then to be understood.
- Stephen Covey

Wisdom is the reward you get for a lifetime of listening
when you'd have preferred to talk.
- Doug Larson

Most of the successful people I've known are the ones
who do more listening than talking.
- Bernard Baruch

Give whatever you are doing
and whoever you are with
the gift of your attention.
- Jim Rohn

Further reading: Pay Attention

True Understanding

Be Aware

Through the Eyes of Another
   

Life is too valuable to spend time not being lighthearted

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.

I am inclined to paraphrase Wilde as...
Life is too valuable to spend time not being lighthearted.

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

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

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

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

Further reading: As a Child Again

Humor in the Face of Adversity

Time to Smell the Flowers

Be Gentle with Yourself
      

Above All, Avoid Hypocrisy

He that is without sin among you, let him cast the first stone at her.
- Jesus of Nazareth (John 8:7)

Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye;
and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye.
- Matthew 7:5

The only vice that cannot be forgiven is hypocrisy.
- William Hazlitt

Tolerance implies no lack of commitment to one's own beliefs.
Rather it condemns the oppression or persecution of others.
- John F. Kennedy

Further reading: Love All, Judge None

Tolerance

Criticism and Complaint
     

Choose to Dance Lightly with Life

Your life within God's arms,
Your dance within God's arms,
Is already Perfect!
- Hafiz

When you get the choice to sit it out or dance,
I hope you dance.
- Lee Ann Womack

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

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

Further reading: A List of Gratitudes

The Paradox Of Living In The Moment

Appreciate the Unexpected
              

Appreciate and Give Thanks

 
Give Honest and Sincere Appreciation.
- Dale Carnegie

Appreciation is a wonderful thing.
It makes what is excellent in others belong to us as well.
- Voltaire

Beginning today, treat everyone you meet
as if they were going to be dead by midnight.
Extend to them all the care,
kindness and understanding you can muster,
and do with no thought of any reward.
Your life will never be the same again.
- Og Mandino

There is more hunger for love and appreciation
in this world than for bread.
- Mother Teresa

Appreciate and give thanks for all the people who make your life possible.
Think of food: think not only of the supermarket cashier, but also the unseen workers, those in distribution and packing centers, truck drivers, the migrant farmworkers picking your lettuce and strawberries, and so many more.
Think of the doctors, nurses and so many health workers. Think of trash collectors, firefighters, the police, those who support your car or your rapid transit, your electric service, your internet and mobile service, and SO many others without whom your life would be unlivable.

Consider the contrast between the warmth of expressing sincere appreciation and the sinkhole of needing approval. Let others know how grateful you are for their kindness (when it is true), but never depend upon others to validate your own worth.

At the beginning of a relationship
we are attracted to the other person because
we think they are sexy, smart, funny -
whatever it is that we find appealing.
But very quickly, the focus of the relationship
turns to whether we feel appreciated.
If we don't feel appreciated, we don't feel loved.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Show Your Honest Appreciation - Today

Caring - Kindness - Compassion - Appreciation

Don't allow the need for other people's approval to control your life