Why Smiling is Good For Your Spiritual Health: 7 Quotes About Smiling

*** 7 delightful smile quotes to give you a boost today!




From Denny: Smiling. It comes naturally. You would think no one had to remind us to smile, now would you? Yet the pressures of Life can crowd in our good attitude, squeezing it so small sometimes. How to counteract that problem? Just smile. It's that simple.

When I was a teenager my father was stationed in Taiwan and we lived with him. While I went to an American boarding school I had the chance to meet an unusual man: a very old Taoist master. He was one of those rare recluses that usually lived high up in the mountains of the country and never came down to the cities. Most of his countrymen heard of him as a powerful legend and had never set eyes on him.

He wasn't a hermit; he was a Taoist spiritual master. And he said he came down from the mountain to teach me. I was honored yet still a bit young to fully understand just how pivotal that moment was in my life but I fully appreciated it and thanked him. His gender bigoted apprentices were less than enthused. He pressed on. And one of those simple concepts he taught me was about The Inner Smile.

One of things I enjoyed about learning from the Chinese and Old Master (I couldn't pronounce his name then) was how their minds moved. They were fellow conceptual thinkers and it was easy for me to follow their line of thought. They fully embraced ultimate simplicity because they knew the power in it. So when I tell you that there is power in the simple exercise of The Inner Smile it is true. Basically, what you are doing is reaffirming Life, validating yourself as worthy to live and balancing your spiritual energy by focusing it upon your heart and inner health. That's it.

All you do is close your eyes and visualize looking inward at yourself. You literally smile at every part of yourself you "see" in your visualization. Do that for 15 minutes a day and you will not suffer from depression, anger or worry when stressful times come. Keeping your spiritual energy balanced helps you when Life challenges approach and you take a journey in a Life test to learn more about yourself and the role of living the life of a spiritual being in the Universe.


Quotes

* It takes a lot of work from the face to let out a smile, but just think what good smiling can bring to the most important muscle of the body... the heart. - Anonymous

* A smile is the universal welcome. - Max Eastman

* A warm smile is the universal language of kindness. - William Arthur Ward

* Most smiles are started by another smile. - Anonymous

* A smile is something you can't give away; it always comes back to you. - Anonymous

* Every time you smile at someone, it is an action of love, a gift to that person, a beautiful thing. - Mother Teresa

* A friendly look, a kindly smile, one good act, and life's worthwhile. - Anonymous



*** Photo by Tansan @ flickr

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How Does Tenacity Figure in Your Life?

*** Consider tenacity to help propel you through tough times.





From Denny: It can be easy to get discouraged in the face of severe adversity. Right now on the Gulf Coast we are facing what may turn out to be generations of adversity. The people here are a hardy bunch and will persevere. The one thing they share is a strong work ethic and a spiritual tenacity to push through difficult times.

This photo of the small child trying to climb that fence at the ocean reminds us of when we were small children. The memories of being so small in an adult world and the obstacles we had to overcome like climbing, sliding, crawling, bumping down stairs too high to conquer any other way. Now that was tenacity in motion every day until we grew stronger and larger, moving on to tougher life obstacles.

Tenacity is often overlooked by philosophers while they are constructing an eloquent argument or elegant vision. Tenacity is that strong drive that often can take our dreams and hopes and propel them into the future vision we have for our lives.

The following quote is from a former president certainly not well liked by history. It was this Republican former governor of Massachusetts who promoted the idea of small government after the scandals of his predecessor President Harding. Harding died suddenly and propelled VP Coolidge into the presidency in 1923. He won the presidency on his own in 1924.

He didn't believe government should invest in large government programs or regulate and have a hand in controlling the economy. Read that as an unrestrained and unregulated free market of greed and corruption. This attitude may have contributed to the stock market crash of 1929 and the ensuing Great Depression. The man was a lawyer, not an economist.

He was known as "Silent Cal" since he was a man of few words and uncomfortable in Washington society. It was Alice Roosevelt Longworth who was quoted as saying, "He looks as if he'd been weaned on a pickle."

Coolridge was a quiet guy playing opposite his vivacious wife Grace. He always considered that being president was important and his words brought great weight. "The words of a President have an enormous weight and ought not to be used indiscriminately."

People wrote him off as one stiff guy so he decided to cultivate it. Hey, when you know you can't be a superstar then work with what you think you have. "I think the American people want a solemn ass as a President," he once told Ethel Barrymore, "and I think I will go along with them." In spite of his quiet status, as president he held a stunning record number of press conferences: 520.

One funny story about Coolidge in one of his uncomfortable social situations where he was often the butt of jokes: He was seated next to Dorothy Parker who leaned over to him and said, "Mr. Coolidge, I've made a bet against a fellow who said it was impossible to get more than two words out of you." His famous reply? "You lose."

It seems that those who gravitate to the Republican agenda often do not possess the best people skills - and weak social skills as they are usually uncompromising. Many do not subscribe to education to improve their attitude toward others. Many are very rigid emotionally and mentally, even fearful of change and lacking a good sense of humor.

The one thing these people rely upon, often too much and out of balance, is tenacity. Tenacity is great when tempered with sensitivity, education and a willingness to be open to others. Tenacity is a great team mate, and, if used well in combination with other attributes can help propel us through difficult situations. Coolidge used his tenacity to survive uncomfortable social situations as he was an introvert by nature.

One good thing about his presidency is that in the 1920's he actually promoted civil rights for African-Americans and Catholics. This was especially important as the Ku Klux Klan had a large following nationally at this time with over four million members. Under his administration, he did not appoint any known KKK members and the Klan lost influence rapidly. It was amazing the man was not assassinated by the millions of racists in the country at the time who howled at his promotion of non-Protestants and other races. Even today, America is over 50 percent Protestant to 25 percent Catholic.

Coolidge was controversial when he granted full American citizenship to Native Americans in 1924. He allowed them to retain tribal lands and full cultural rights. Not exactly the Republican Party of today that is homophobic and excessively racist and gender biased about equal work should get equal pay.

You can analyze presidents and presidencies for years, finding the good, the bad and the ugly. This man had his good moments and his bad just like everyone else. Perhaps he did not fully realize the impact decades later his economic policies would have on generations of Americans.

What we can learn from him is his focus upon tenacity to help win the day, acting as a mighty force to solve problems. The spirit of tenacity has a way about it that gives us courage to move through difficult situations to achieve our goals.


Quote

* Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence.
Talent will not; nothing in the world is more common than unsuccessful men with talent.
Genius will not; unrewarded genius is a proverb.
Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts.
Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. - President Calvin Coolidge



*** Photo by Victor Bezrukov @ flickr


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Destress: 3 Great Encouragement Quotes

*** Learn new coping strategies from others who have experienced adversity.





From Denny: Have you ever taken note that some of the best quotes for encouraging us to take heart when faced with tough times always come from people who have experienced long term adversity? President Abraham Lincoln, president during the Civil War years and assassinated, knew adversity even before he came into office. He ran in 69 political races and finally won.

He was president over a bitterly divided country at war against itself far worse than we see now. Unbelievable but true. Lincoln also experienced the deep sorrow of losing a young son to illness while in the White House. The First Lady went into such grief that she never came out of mourning. All this going on inside his family while he still had a country to calm down and quit killing themselves.

To handle long term stress it helps to catch your balance by devising coping skills you can use on a daily, sometimes hourly basis. That can involve the little things that bring you joy and lift your spirits. It could be something as simple as cooking a favorite meal, trying out a new recipe, getting in the car and traveling some remote country road to take photos of whatever you happen to come upon. For some it could be playing a favorite sport like pick-up basketball every week at a regularly scheduled time, going to your kid's soccer games or joining an interest group where you can share what you are doing and be inspired by what other members are creating.

It also helps to create a long term strategy to help you through months and years of rebuilding your life. That involves systematically getting your head in the game with a life philosophy that helps create a strong mindset. We need the strong pivot point of a belief so we can securely plant our feet into that foundation to help us live practically day to day. Those thoughts keep us hopeful and positive. When times look grim we can refocus our thoughts upon our core beliefs to help settle our emotions and get through the day. In a long term strategy - to deal successfully with stress - it's all about getting through the moment, getting through the day to live another day. Each day adds up creating the moments of your life.

Eventually, Life improves and the worries fade away over time. It's the transition that can be difficult if you don't have a good plan. A good plan involves constantly filling yourself with positive thoughts while you deal with each day. Keeping your attitude balanced and positive is 90 percent of the battle. When you are in a good mood it helps you to see what steps to take next to resolve issues as you go through the process.

Most long term stressful situations require a series of steps involving problem-solving strategies. Just when you handle one problem it seems yet another arises. That's when you focus upon your successes. Take a good look at each problem and your success to see clearly the pattern of the journey of where the universe is guiding you. You will be amazed.


Quote

* It is said an Eastern monarch once charged his wise men to invent him a sentence to be ever in view, and which should be true and appropriate in all times and situations. They presented him the words: "And this, too, shall pass away." - President Abraham Lincoln

* When you feel like giving up, remember why you held on for so long in the first place. - Anonymous

* Instead of giving myself reasons why I can't, I give myself reasons why I can. - Anonymous



*** SEE ALSO: Have You Ever Thought About The Process of Success?

*** SEE ALSO: Hope Transforms Our Lives in Tough Times

*** See Also: How Are Hopes, Dreams and Reality Related?

*** See Also: Where Does Hope Guide Us On Our Life Path?

*** See Also: Hope: Unborn Baby Grabs onto Doctors Hand in Surgery

*** See Also: Does Hope Touch Your Soul?



*** Photo by Victor Bezrukov @ flickr


*** THANKS for visiting, feel welcome to drop a comment or opinion, enjoy bookmarking this post on your favorite social site, a big shout out to awesome current subscribers – and if you are new to this blog, please subscribe in a reader or by email updates!

Have You Ever Thought About The Process of Success?

*** Encouragement Quote From famous Award Winning Novelist





From Denny: Right now the Gulf Coast and even the rest of America needs to read some refreshing and mindful encouragement quotes to help us keep going. So much seems to be coming at us through this chaotic economy, severe job loss and underemployment causing bankruptcies and home foreclosures - and now the huge Gulf oil spill from BP who still has not found a way to slow down or stop the broken well leaks. There are over 100 million gallons of oil spilled and more arriving every day to the tune of two million gallons a day. It's an environmental disaster that has everyone in America talking and wondering about how to move ourselves to less harmful forms of energy.

Current times feel dire to million of Americans and millions more around the world as we all go through some universal adjustment of attitude and lifestyle changes. Meanwhile, it helps to focus upon wise thoughts and comforting thoughts to help us through the transition.

I thought I'd start with this quote from famous author James A. Michener. He had a lot of adversity in his life and well understood the difficulties of maintaining a good attitude and continuing to persevere. He was abandoned by his birth parents and was adopted by a woman of few means yet she had a love of books and learning with which she ignited a passion in him to write. Michener went on to work his way across America and later joined the Navy where he traveled to the South Pacific. With all his financial success he never did find out who were his birth parents.

Michener well understood how we slowly build our character into towering strength, how we pursue our dreams and how we finally succeed at achieving the kind of life we always desired. His quote here addresses mental toughness that can only be forged through trial and error on our part.


Quote

* Character consists of what you do on the third and fourth tries. - James A. Michener, award winning novelist, click on link to see his bio as he had a very interesting life.



*** SEE ALSO: Destress: 3 Great Encouragement Quotes

*** SEE ALSO: Hope Transforms Our Lives in Tough Times

*** See Also: How Are Hopes, Dreams and Reality Related?

*** See Also: Where Does Hope Guide Us On Our Life Path?

*** See Also: Hope: Unborn Baby Grabs onto Doctors Hand in Surgery

*** See Also: Does Hope Touch Your Soul?



*** Photo by Victor Bezrukov @ flickr


*** THANKS for visiting, feel welcome to drop a comment or opinion, enjoy bookmarking this post on your favorite social site, a big shout out to awesome current subscribers – and if you are new to this blog, please subscribe in a reader or by email updates!

Hope Transforms Our Lives in Tough Times

*** A poem about how Hope works to transform our lives.





From Denny: With all the political and economic chaos going on in the world - and violent weather - it's important to remember to listen to Hope. It's easy to get jaded as you fight injustice or misfortune.

These trying circumstances that plague humanity often hit hardest when we are not paying attention - or outright refuse - to grow spiritually. We were not sent into this physical life just to pay the bills, have families to populate the Earth and die.

This is a testing ground to produce spiritual awareness of what is greater than our individual selves. It can be easier when you volunteer by choosing to challenge yourself daily, sometimes hourly, to grow.

When we reject spiritual growth that's when Karma (the Law of Cause and Effect) hammers us. Don't let challenges back up until it explodes onto your life in a chaotic mess just to get your attention. Take charge right now by listening to the small quiet voice of Hope that is there to guide you on your way to success.






Hope Transforms

Hope lightly touches our souls,
Gently glides in through the mists of
Troubled minds and chaotic lives and
Quietly strokes our faces to engage.





Awareness soars, promises glisten.
We greet the new companion Hope
Who lingers and comforts a while
Constant faithful friend through crisis





Hope arises from the silence, those
Darkest moments plaguing our lives.
Hope illuminates the despair and
Lifts up our hearts to believe again.





Life crowds us with demanding pressures
Like clanging alarms wake, startling us to grow.
Hope drives us to a greater destination,
Toward fully conscious, awake and Presence.





Hope gives us the Dream then transforms,
Sings our courage, never overwhelmed.
Hope seeks, summons the growing Light.
Conduit of change, quiet Power, Hope dwells within.







Denny Lyon
Copyright 11 June 2010
All Rights Reserved


*** See Also: How Are Hopes, Dreams and Reality Related?

*** See Also: Where Does Hope Guide Us On Our Life Path?

*** See Also: Hope: Unborn Baby Grabs onto Doctors Hand in Surgery

*** See Also: Does Hope Touch Your Soul?

*** See Also: Destress: 3 Great Encouragement Quotes

*** See Also: Have You Ever Thought About The Process of Success?



Photo Credits

Hope under an umbrella photo by Atilla1000 @ flickr

Fenced Hope photo by mattwi1s0n @ flickr

Rays of Hope photo by green umbrella @ flickr

Feather on the shore by patnz @ flickr

Single white feather floating photo by treehouse1977 @ flickr

Feather glistening in the snow photo by Doug and Kim @ flickr


*** THANKS for visiting, feel welcome to drop a comment or opinion, enjoy bookmarking this post on your favorite social site, a big
shout out to awesome current subscribers – and if you are new to this blog, please subscribe in a reader or by email updates!

How Are Hopes, Dreams and Reality Related?

*** Views Today: 16,700 and Thank You!

*** The pressure of Life tests can act like an alarm clock awakening us to act.





From Denny: Sometimes, we can feel like Life is raining on our parade. The goal is to keep looking ahead for the light to guide us - or in funnier terms, "Look for the exit sign!" - especially when you are in a tough life test that feels like you are trapped in a maze. Life puts pressures on us all. It's that uncomfortable pressure that gives voice to the fact we need to move on from where we are because we are not growing. Those pressures act like a loud alarm clock to startle us fully awake to act.

The beauty of this quote is that it addresses being fully conscious, fully present, fully awake. These are the hallmarks of having achieved a deeper level of spiritual development: when you are aware every moment. The entire process of true spiritual development is our everyday conscious mind merging gracefully with our eternal spiritual mind, working in harmony each day.

Hope is a friend. Hope is a vehicle to take us to that greater state of development. Hope delivers us from only a dream into a beautiful reality worth staying awake to enjoy.


Quote

* For Hope is but the dream of those that wake. - Matthew Prior


*** See Also: Hope Transforms poem - Libations Friday 11 June 2010 - A poem about how Hope works to transform our lives.

*** See Also: Where Does Hope Guide Us On Our Life Path?

*** See Also: Hope: Unborn Baby Grabs onto Doctors Hand in Surgery

*** See Also: Does Hope Touch Your Soul?


Photo by Attila1000 @ flickr


*** THANKS for visiting, feel welcome to drop a comment or opinion, enjoy bookmarking this post on your favorite social site, a big shout out to awesome current subscribers – and if you are new to this blog, please subscribe in a reader or by email updates!

Where Does Hope Guide Us On Our Life Path?

*** Views today: 7, 899 and Thank You!

*** Read an insightful quote about Hope that will put to rest all the naysayers against the practice of Hope as useful.





From Denny: Contemplation of one good thought like this quote can be illuminating. Did you ever consider the power of Hope from another angle other than to lift up our hearts from despair? Did you ever consider the power of Hope in another way other than to help give us the energy to struggle on? What's great about this quote is it's wisdom of how the Universe employs Hope to lead us on our spiritual path to our greatest achievements! It's like the old paraphrased adage: If you don't open the door, you can't walk into the room.


Quote

* If you do not hope, you will not find what is beyond your hopes. - St. Clement of Alexandra


*** See Also: Hope Transforms poem - Libations Friday 11 June 2010 - A poem about how Hope works to transform our lives.

*** See Also: How Are Hopes, Dreams and Reality Related?

*** See Also: Hope: Unborn Baby Grabs onto Doctors Hand in Surgery

*** See Also: Does Hope Touch Your Soul?


*** THANKS for visiting, feel welcome to drop a comment or opinion, enjoy bookmarking this post on your favorite social site, a big shout out to awesome current subscribers – and if you are new to this blog, please subscribe in a reader or by email updates!

Hope: Unborn Baby Grabs onto Doctors Hand in Surgery

*** Views Today: 9,552 and Thank You!

*** Hope begins before we are born. Read baby Samuel's story.





From Denny: Hope begins in the silence of the darkest moment in our lives. Just like a small candle can suddenly illuminate a dark room, so too can Hope lift up our hearts to believe again after disappointment or failure.

The Beauty that shines from Hope is its courage to sing when we are overwhelmed by the dark, summoning the light, growing the light, causing us to become the light. Hope is a quiet Power found within all of us.


Quote

* Hope is like a bird that senses the dawn and carefully starts to sing while it is still dark. - Anonymous



Quoted from the photographer Faithful Chant on her flickr page:

A picture began circulating in November. It should be 'The Picture of the Year,' or perhaps, 'Picture of the Decade.' It won't be. In fact,unless you obtained a copy of the U S paper which published it, you probably would never have seen it.

The picture is that of a 21-week-old unborn baby named Samuel Alexander Armas, who is being operated on by surgeon named Joseph Bruner.

The baby was diagnosed with spina bifida and would not survive if removed from his mother's womb. Little Samuel's mother, Julie Armas, is an obstetrics nurse in Atlanta . She knew of Dr. Bruner's remarkable surgical procedure. Practicing at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, he performs these special operations while the baby is still in the womb.

During the procedure, the doctor removes the uterus via C-section and makes a small incision to operate on the baby. As Dr. Bruner completed the surgery on Samuel, the little guy reached his tiny, but fully developed hand through the incision and firmly grasped the surgeon's finger. Dr. Bruner was reported as saying that when his finger was grasped, it was the most emotional moment of his life, and that for an instant during the procedure he was just frozen, totally immobile.

The photograph captures this amazing event with perfect clarity. The editors titled the picture, 'Hand of Hope.' The text explaining the picture begins, 'The tiny hand of 21-week- old fetus Samuel Alexander Armas emerges from the mother's uterus to grasp the finger of Dr. Joseph Bruner as if thanking the doctor for the gift of life.'

Little Samuel's mother said they 'wept for days' when they saw the picture. She said, 'The photo reminds us pregnancy isn't about disability or an illness; it's about a little person.' Samuel was born in perfect health, the operation 100 percent successful.

Pass it on. The world needs to see this one!


*** See Also: Hope Transforms poem - Libations Friday 11 June 2010 - A poem about how Hope works to transform our lives.

*** See Also: How Are Hopes, Dreams and Reality Related?

*** See Also: Where Does Hope Guide Us On Our Life Path?

*** See Also: Does Hope Touch Your Soul?


Photo by Faithful Chant @ flickr


*** THANKS for visiting, feel welcome to drop a comment or opinion, enjoy bookmarking this post on your favorite social site, a big shout out to awesome current subscribers – and if you are new to this blog, please subscribe in a reader or by email updates!

Does Hope Touch Your Soul?

*** Views Today: 13,385 and Thank You!

*** A quote about Hope from poet Emily Dickinson.





From Denny: Leave it to a life long sensitive and spiritual poetess to create such an elegant line about Hope. Emily Dickinson was a severe introvert who explored her inner world like an extreme sport adventurer. She had little interest in her outer world, shunning it. Emily had few contacts with people outside her tight knit family and she preferred it that way. She lived a lot like a monk, contemplating God and the meaning of Life.

What I like about this particular quote is it elegantly describes - with stunning accuracy - how Hope lightly touches our souls. It's as if Hope gently glides in through the mists of our troubled minds and chaotic lives, quietly stroking our faces to engage. Then, once the glimmer of awareness peeks out to greet it, Hope settles in to be our silent constant companion to get us through the crisis.


Quote

* Hope is the thing with feathers that perches in the soul. - Emily Dickinson





Here is the actual poem: Emily Dickinson (1830–86). Complete Poems. 1924.

Part One: Life

XXXII


HOPE is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul,
And sings the tune without the words,
And never stops at all,

And sweetest in the gale is heard;
And sore must be the storm
That could abash the little bird
That kept so many warm.

I’ve heard it in the chillest land,
And on the strangest sea;
Yet, never, in extremity,
It asked a crumb of me.



You might also enjoy reading a short bio about this poetes and take a look online at the museum dedicated to her:


*** See Also: Emily Dickenson biography at Poets.org

*** See Also: Emily Dickinson Museum (in Amherst, Massachusetts)


*** See Also: Hope Transforms poem - Libations Friday 11 June 2010 - A poem about how Hope works to transform our lives.

*** See Also: How Are Hopes, Dreams and Reality Related?

*** See Also: Where Does Hope Guide Us On Our Life Path?

*** See Also: Hope: Unborn Baby Grabs onto Doctors Hand in Surgery


*** THANKS for visiting, feel welcome to drop a comment or opinion, enjoy bookmarking this post on your favorite social site, a big shout out to awesome current subscribers – and if you are new to this blog, please subscribe in a reader or by email updates!

111 Insightful Life Quotes

*** Give yourself some mind food to enjoy as you ponder your own place in the Universe.


*** Views Today: 11,754 and Thank You!





From Denny: What a quest this search turned out to be! We people types certainly have our opinions about what we think Life is all about. :) Whenever I'm pondering a concept - and in this case it's Life itself - I like to look at all the facets. It's the intense subtleties in Life, those minute shadings of meaning, that bring so much richness into our awareness.

And, since I so enjoy numbers and numerology, the number "1" kept showing up as a reminder to us that we all really are One in the great universal thought. We are expressed as those individual intense subtleties and facets in Life for we are all, collectively, Life celebrated.






* We make a living by what we get, we make a life by what we give. - Winston Churchill

* How far you go in life depends on your being tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving and tolerant of the weak and strong. Because someday in life you will have been all of these. - George Washington Carver

* Life is something that everyone should try at least once. - Henry J. Tillman

* Life is just a mirror, and what you see out there, you must first see inside of you. - Wally 'Famous' Amos

* Life has taught us that love does not consist of gazing at each other, but in looking together in the same direction. - Antoine de Saint-Exupery

* Life is a great big canvas, and you should throw all the paint on it you can. - Danny Kaye

* Where there is love there is life. - Indira Gandhi

* We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools. - Martin Luther King, Jr.

* Live dangerously and you live right. - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

* The greatest happiness of life is the conviction that we are loved -- loved for ourselves, or rather, loved in spite of ourselves. - Victor Hugo







* The purpose of life is a life of purpose. - Robert Byrne

* Life is like a coin. You can spend it any way you wish, but you only spend it once. - Lillian Dickson

* There is no wealth but life. - John Ruskin

* Life is the sum of all your choices. - Albert Camus

* I have measured out my life with coffee spoons. - T.S. Eliot

* Life is like music; it must be composed by ear, feeling, and instinct, not by rule. - Samuel Butler

* Be glad of life because it gives you the chance to love and to work and to play and to look up at the stars. - Henry Van Dyke

* The aim of life is to live, and to live means to be aware, joyously, drunkenly, serenely, divinely aware. - Henry Miller

* Life is a ticket to the greatest show on earth. - Martin H. Fischer

* For if there is a sin against life, it consists perhaps not so much in despairing of life as in hoping for another life and in eluding the implacable grandeur of this life. - Albert Camus








* If in our daily life we can smile, if we can be peaceful and happy, not only we, but everyone will profit from it. This is the most basic kind of peace work. - Thich Nhat Hanh

* To succeed in life, you need three things: a wishbone, a backbone and a funnybone. - Reba McEntire

* The tragedy of life is not so much what men suffer, but rather what they miss. - Thomas Carlyle

* Life is the flower for which love is the honey. - Victor Hugo

* God asks no man whether he will accept life. That is not the choice. You must take it. The only question is how. - Henry Ward Beecher

* In three words I can sum up everything I've learned about life. It goes on. - Robert Frost

* Life is like a ten-speed bicycle. Most of us have gears we never use. - Charles Schulz

* Life is nothing without friendship. - Marcus Tullius Cicero

* While we are postponing, life speeds by. - Seneca







* A life lived in love will never be dull. - Leo Buscaglia

* Your life feels different on you, once you greet death and understand your heart's position. You wear your life like a garment from the mission bundle sale ever after - lightly because you realize you never paid nothing for it, cherishing because you know you won't ever come by such a bargain again. - Louise Erdrich

* One must work and dare if one really wants to live. - Vincent van Gogh

* Life is meaningless only if we allow it to be. Each of us has the power to give life meaning, to make our time and our bodies and our words into instruments of love and hope. - Tom Head

* I am on the side of the unregenerate who affirm the worth of life as an end in itself, as against the saints who deny it. - Oliver Wendell Holmes

* Live every act fully, as if it were your last. - Buddha

* To be awake is to be alive. - Henry David Thoreau

* There is no short cut to achievement. Life requires thorough preparation -- veneer isn't worth anything. - George Washington Carver

* We spend most of our lives conjugating three verbs: to want, to have, and to do. - Evelyn Underhill

* The capacity for hope is the most significant fact of life. It provides human beings with a sense of destination and the energy to get started. - Norman Cousins (who cured himself of terminal cancer by pursuing laughter every day)







* Respect for the fragility and importance of an individual life is still the mark of an educated man. - Norman Cousins

* I don't want to get to the end of my life and find that I lived just the length of it. I want to have lived the width of it as well. - Diane Ackerman

* As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them. - President John F. Kennedy

* may my heart always be open to little
birds who are the secrets of living
- e. e. cummings, poet

* Promise yourself to live your life as a revolution and not just a process of evolution. - Anthony J. D'Angelo

* Let us endeavor so to live that when we come to die even the undertaker will be sorry. - Mark Twain

* We can only be said to be alive in those moments when our hearts are conscious of our treasures. - Thornton Wilder

* Life is not measured by the breaths you take, but by its breathtaking moments. - Michael Vance

* Religion is not something separate and apart from ordinary life. It is life -- life of every kind viewed from the standpoint of meaning and purpose: life lived in the fuller awareness of its human quality and spiritual significance. - A. Powell Davies

* There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle. - Albert Einstein







* Spirituality can be severed from both vicious sectarianism and thoughtless banalities. Spirituality, I have come to see, is nothing less than the thoughtful love of life. [Spirituality for the Skeptic] - Robert C. Solomon

* I believe in cultivating opposite, but complementary views of life, and I believe in meeting life's challenges with contradictory strategies. I believe in reckoning with the ultimate meaninglessness of our existence, even as we fall in love with the miracle of being alive. I believe in working passionately to make our lives count while never losing sight of our insignificance. I believe in caring deeply and being beyond caring. It is by encompassing these opposites, by being involved and vulnerable, but simultaneously transcendent and detached, that our lives are graced by resilience and joy. - Fritz Williams

* The exercise of an extraordinary gift is the supremest pleasure in life. - Mark Twain

* They're basically moments in which you're in touch with the meaning of life, when your relationship to the rest of the universe makes sense. - Barbara De Angelis

* Most people can look back over the years and identify a time and place at which their lives changed significantly. Whether by accident or design, these are the moments when, because of a readiness within us and a collaboration with events occurring around us, we are forced to seriously reappraise ourselves and the conditions under which we live and to make certain choices that will affect the rest of our lives. - Frederick F. Flack

* To be what we are, and to become what we are capable of becoming, is the only end of life. - Robert Louis Stevenson

* Everything you now do is something you have chosen to do. Some people don't want to believe that. But if you're over age twenty-one, your life is what you're making of it. To change your life, you need to change your priorities. - John C. Maxwell

* Life is relationships; the rest is just details. - Gary Smalley

* Life's challenges are not supposed to paralyze you, they're supposed to help you discover who you are. - Bernice Johnson Reagon

* Keep love in your heart. A life without it is like a sunless garden when the flowers are dead. The consciousness of loving and being loved brings a warmth and richness to life that nothing else can bring. - Oscar Wilde







* Each person must live their life as a model for others. - Rosa Parks, American civil rights leader

* We as for long life, but 'tis deep life, or noble moments that signify. Let the measure of time be spiritual, not mechanical. - Ralph Waldo Emerson

* After sleeping through a hundred million centuries we have finally opened our eyes on a sumptuous planet, sparkling with color, bountiful with life. Within decades we must close our eyes again. Isn't it a noble, an enlightened way of spending our brief time in the sun, to work at understanding the universe and how we have come to wake up in it? This is how I answer when I am asked -- as I am surprisingly often -- why I bother to get up in the mornings. - Richard Dawkins

* Ninety-nine percent of the failures come from people who have the habit of making excuses. - George Washington Carver

* Hope is both the earliest and the most indispensable virtue inherent in the state of being alive. If life is to be sustained hope must remain, even where confidence is wounded, trust impaired. - Erik H. Erikson

* What everyone wants from life is continuous and genuine happiness. - Baruch Spinoza

* Gratefulness is the key to a happy life that we hold in our hands, because if we are not grateful, then no matter how much we have we will not be happy -- because we will always want to have something else or something more. - David Steindl-Rast

* I think somehow we learn who we really are and then live with that decision. - Eleanor Roosevelt, American First Lady to President Franklin D. Roosevelt

* People grow through experience if they meet life honestly and courageously. This is how character is built. - Eleanor Roosevelt

* Wars and elections are both too big and too small to matter in the long run. The daily work - that goes on, it adds up. - Barbara Kingsolver






* To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all. - Oscar Wilde

* What is the meaning of life? To be happy and useful. - Tenzin Gyatso, 14th Dalai Lama

* Life is short, but there is always time enough for courtesy. - Ralph Waldo Emerson

* Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover. - Mark Twain

* It's faith in something and enthusiasm for something that makes a life worth living. - Oliver Wendell Holmes

* The life I touch for good or ill will touch another life, and that in turn another, until who knows where the trembling stops or in what far place my touch will be felt. - Frederick Buechner

* The mystery of existence is the connection between our faults and our misfortunes. - Madame de Stael

* The principle of life is that life responds by corresponding; your life becomes the thing you have decided it shall be. - Raymond Charles Barker

* Whatever is at the center of our life will be the source of our security, guidance, wisdom, and power. - Stephen Covey

* Birth, life, and death -- each took place on the hidden side of a leaf. - Toni Morrison







* Lives, like money, are spent. What are you buying with yours? - Roy H. Williams

* How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives. - Annie Dillard

* Everything has been figured out, except how to live. - Jean-Paul Sartre

* Tell me not, in mournful numbers,
Life is but an empty dream!
For the soul is dead that slumbers,
and things are not what they seem.
Life is real! Life is earnest!
And the grave is not its goal;
Dust thou art; to dust returnest,
Was not spoken of the soul.

- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

* I have found life an enjoyable, enchanting, active, and sometime terrifying experience, and I've enjoyed it completely. A lament in one ear, maybe, but always a song in the other. - Sean O'Casey

* Life is God's novel. Let him write it. - Isaac Bashevis Singer

* Love the moment. Flowers grow out of dark moments. Therefore, each moment is vital. It affects the whole. Life is a succession of such moments and to live each, is to succeed. - Corita Kent

* To live in this world you must be able to do three things: to love what is mortal; to hold it against your bones knowing your own life depends on it; and, when the time comes to let it go, to let it go. Blackwater Woods - Mary Oliver

* [W]e now know that the human animal is characterized by two great fears that other animals are protected from: the fear of life and the fear of death... Heidegger brought these fears to the center of his existential philosophy. He argued that the basic anxiety of [humanity] is anxiety about being-in-the-world, as well as anxiety of being-in-the-world. That is, both fear of death and fear of life, of experience and individuation. - Ernest Becker

* What we call the secret of happiness is no more a secret than our willingness to choose life. - Leo Buscaglia







* Love life and life will love you back. Love people and they will love you back. - Arthur Rubinstein

* The good life is inspired by love and guided by knowledge. - Bertrand Russell

* Nothing else matters much -- not wealth, nor learning, nor even health -- without this gift: the spiritual capacity to keep zest in living. This is the creed of creeds, the final deposit and distillation of all important faiths: that you should be able to believe in life. - Harry Emerson Fosdick

* Injustice can be eliminated, but human conflicts and natural limitations cannot be removed. The conflicts of social life and the limitations of nature cannot be controlled or transcended. They can, however, be endured and survived. It is possible for there to be a dance with life, a creative response to its intrinsic limits and challenges ... [A Feminist Ethic of Risk] - Sharon Welch

* Reverence for Life affords me my fundamental principle of morality, namely, that good consists in maintaining, assisting, and enhancing life and that to destroy, harm, or to hinder life is evil. Affirmation of the world -- that is affirmation of the will to live, which appears in phenomenal forms all around me -- is only possible for me in that I give myself out for other life. - Albert Schweitzer, medical doctor and humanitarian

* Ethics cannot be based upon our obligations toward [people], but they are complete and natural only when we feel this Reverence for Life and the desire to have compassion for and to help all creatures insofar as it is in our power. I think that this ethic will become more and more recognized because of its great naturalness and because it is the foundation of a true humanism toward which we must strive if our culture is to become truly ethical. - Albert Schweitzer

* That it will never come again is what makes life so sweet. - Emily Dickinson

* The most decisive actions of our life ... are most often unconsidered actions. - Andre Gide

* Education is not preparation for life; education is life itself. - John Dewey

* You can get everything in life you want if you will just help enough other people get what they want. - Zig Ziglar







* The secret of a good life is to have the right loyalties and hold them in the right scale of values. - Norman Thomas

* The goal of life is living in agreement with nature. - Zeno

* Life is something that happens when you can't get to sleep. - Fran Lebowitz

* Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans. - John Lennon

* To live is so startling it leaves little time for anything else. - Emily Dickinson

* Life is a foreign language; all men mispronounce it. - Christopher Morley

* In the book of life, the answers aren't in the back. - Charlie Brown

* Nothing in life is to be feared. It is only to be understood. - Marie Curie

* What is this life if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare?
- W. H. Davies

* The miracle is not to fly in the air, or to walk on the water, but to walk on the earth. - Chinese Proverb







* An individual has not started living until he can rise above the narrow confines of his individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity. - Martin Luther King, Jr.



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