Daily Inspiration - Daily Quotes

Be Thankful for even the Smallest Blessings

2026-07-19T00:30:00.000-04:00

Gratitude is an attitude that hooks us up to our source of supply.
And the more grateful you are, the closer you become to your maker,
to the architect of the universe, to the spiritual core of your being.
- Bob Proctor

It is the common, everyday blessings of our common everyday lives
for which we should be particularly grateful.
They are the things that fill our lives with comfort and our hearts with gladness --
just the pure air to breathe and the strength to breath it;
just warmth and shelter and home folks;
just plain food that gives us strength; bright sunshine on a cold day;
and a cool breeze when the day is warm.
- Laura Ingalls Wilder

Food is our most fundamental material blessing.
Use each meal as an opportunity to feel gratitude for all the blessings of this life.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

So long as you have food in your mouth,
you have solved all questions for the time being.
- Franz Kafka

Today's Grace:
I give thanks for the blessings of this food
as a symbol of my gratitude
for all the manifold blessings of this life.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Life Really Is Good

Gratitude and Life

Know that You have been Blessed

A Thankful Heart

Our Legacy is what We Leave to Children Yet Unborn

2026-07-18T00:30:00.000-04:00

What kind of world do you want to leave your great-grandchildren?
What can you do today to help create that world?
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

There can be no keener revelation of a society's soul
than the way in which it treats its children.
- Nelson Mandela

You give but little when you give of your possessions.
It is when you give of yourself that you truly give.
- Khalil Gibran

The philosophy of the school room in one generation
will be the philosophy of government in the next.
- Abraham Lincoln

Further reading: Honor the Children

Passing the Torch

Our Grandchildren

Full Measure

Do Everything with Love

2026-07-17T00:30:00.000-04:00

I Dream This Day of Wondrous Things,
of Peace and Hope and Pride.
I Dance My Dance with Life Today,
I'm Filled with Love Inside.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

It is not the magnitude of our actions
but the amount of love
that is put into them that matters.
- Mother Teresa

We all go through life bristling
at our external limitations,
but the most difficult chains
to break are inside us.
- Bradley Whitford

Nothing splendid has ever been achieved except by those who dared
believe that something inside of them was superior to circumstance.
- Bruce Barton

True love doesn't come to you it has to be inside you.
- Julia Roberts

Who looks outside, dreams;
who looks inside, awakes.
- Carl Jung

Everyone has inside of him a piece of good news.
The good news is that you don't know how great you can be!
How much you can love!
What you can accomplish! And what your potential is!
- Anne Frank

Further reading: Feel Your Connection With the Infinite - a Meditation

The Power of Unconditional Love

Solitude vs. Feeling Lonely

The Prayer of St. Francis of Assisi

Live from Your Heart

What is a Home?

Appreciate the Commonplace

2026-07-16T00:30:00.000-04:00

The enlightened give thanks for what most people take for granted.
- Michael Beckwith

The invariable mark of wisdom is to
see the miraculous in the common.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

A thankful heart is the greatest virtue.
- Cicero

Today's affirmation:
I find joy and inspiration in the commonplace
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: The Commonplace

Simple Pleasures

Beauty is Everywhere

Choose Peace and Joy

2026-07-15T00:30:00.000-04:00

Instead of dwelling on negative thoughts,
cause your mind to dwell on peace and joy.
- Ernest Holmes

Our lives are defined not by the challenges we encounter,
but by how we respond to those challenges.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

My life has been filled with terrible misfortune;
most of which never happened.
- Michel Eyquem De Montaigne

The longer we dwell on our misfortunes,
the greater is their power to harm us.
- Voltaire

Don't dwell on what went wrong.
Instead, focus on what to do next.
Spend your energies on moving forward toward finding the answer.
- Denis Waitley

Further reading: Are You Scared of What MIGHT Happen?

Set Goals - Take Action

Choose to Soar

Create Your Own Legacy

Be Of Service - Share Yourself

2026-07-14T00:30:00.000-04:00

Anyone who has two shirts should share with the one who has none,
and anyone who has food should do the same.
- Luke 3:11

The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.
- Mohandas (Mahatma) Gandhi

What power there is in our service
when our actions line up with our mission, skills and joy.
– Mary Anne Radmacher

The most eloquent prayer is the prayer through hands that heal and bless.
- Billy Graham

Further reading: Serve Others

The Power of Generosity

We Belong to Each Other

Helping

Action Drives Out Worry

2026-07-13T00:30:00.000-04:00

Let our advance worrying become advance thinking and planning.
- Winston Churchill

Worry is the Darkest Cloud over Our Happiness.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

You can't change the past,
but you can ruin the present
by worrying about the future.
- Anonymous

How much pain they have cost us,
the evils which have never happened.
- Thomas Jefferson

Worry often gives a small thing a big shadow.
- Swedish Proverb

Further reading: Worry, Frustration and Resentment

Beyond Your Worries

Master of My Emotions

Fear of Suffering

Appreciate Small Pleasures

2026-07-12T00:30:00.000-04:00

Think big thoughts but relish small pleasures.
- H. Jackson Brown, Jr.

The simplification of life is one of the steps to inner peace.
A persistent simplification will create an inner and outer well-being
that places harmony in one's life.
- Peace Pilgrim

Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength;
loving someone deeply gives you courage.
- Lao Tzu

To love. To be loved.
To never forget your own insignificance.
To never get used to the unspeakable violence
and the vulgar disparity of life around you.
To seek joy in the saddest places.
To pursue beauty to its lair.
To never simplify what is complicated
or complicate what is simple.
To respect strength, never power.
Above all, to watch. To try to understand.
To never look away. And never, never, to forget.
- Arundhati Roy

A small compassionate act enlarges the scope of community.
- Mary Anne Radmacher

A cool breeze.
A golden sunset.
A quiet walk on the beach, or the neighborhood street.
A furry friend snuggled next to you.
A cool drink of water.
A lick of an ice cream cone.
A loving hand on your shoulder.
A butterfly enjoying the flowers.
A rainbow after the storm.
Appreciate Small Pleasures.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Stand Rapt in Awe

Live Gently

Beyond Understanding

Compassion, Kindness, Humility

Thoughtful Action Defuses Panic

2026-07-11T00:30:00.000-04:00

Never yield to Panic (fear so strong it prevents logical thinking).
Focus, and let your actions be thoughtful.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

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

The only hope I can see for the future depends on a
wiser and braver use of the reason,
not a panic flight from it.
- F. L. Lucas

Doubt and mistrust are the mere panic of timid imagination,
which the steadfast heart will conquer,
and the large mind will transcend.
- Helen Keller

Fear cannot be banished, but it can be calm and without panic;
it can be mitigated by reason and evaluation.
- Vannevar Bush

Further reading: Don't Panic

Take Charge of Your Life

The Nightly News - an expression of fear

Care and Share

2026-07-10T00:30:00.000-04:00

Share your heart as deeply as you can reach.
- Mary Anne Radmacher

Live your life from your heart.
Share from your heart.
And your story will touch and heal people's souls.

- Melody Beattie

There never was any heart truly great and generous,
that was not also tender and compassionate.
- Robert Frost

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

I have found that among its other benefits,
giving liberates the soul of the giver.

- Maya Angelou

The greatest gift that you can give to others is the
gift of unconditional love and acceptance.
- Brian Tracy

It costs you nothing to make another happy -
and you gain your true self through the act of spreading joy.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Be Proactive in Your Love

Be Tender

What Does Love Look Like?

Don't Make Assumptions; Don't Hold Expectations

2026-07-09T00:30:00.000-04:00

Cultivate a Beginner Mind.
(be open to newness)

Bringing a childlike wonder
and a beginner's mind to life
maximizes both success and joy.

- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Become more and more innocent,

less knowledgeable and more childlike.
Take life as fun -
because that's precisely what it is!

- Osho

Innocence isn't ever lost completely;
we just need to maintain our goodness to regain it.
- Jewel

Children are born innocent.
Before they are domesticated they live in the moment,
love without fear, and don't even think about the opinions of others.
- don Miguel Ruiz

Over the years, we come to see life as we expect it to be. We make assumptions that support how we "KNOW" that things ARE. We make expectations of others and of ourselves based on those assumptions. For example, we "KNOW" what kinds of people are "good" people and which kinds or people are "bad" people.

Imagine what life would be like if you could forget all the past resentments and perceived offenses that color your thinking and your emotions. Buddhists call that state "beginner mind" - an opening to experience life without the jaundiced filter of past disappointments, to move past assumptions about the nature of life, and really SEE your surroundings - especially the people you interact with - with new eyes.

Today is your day to shed the scales from your eyes.

No One is Free Until We are ALL Free

2026-07-08T00:30:00.000-04:00

No one is free until we are all free.
- Martin Luther King, Jr.

The only thing necessary for evil to triumph
is for enough good men to do nothing.
- Edmund Burke

We hold these truths to be self-evident:
that all men are created equal,
that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights,
among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
- Thomas Jefferson (third President of the United States)
[Declaration of Independence, and inscribed in the Jefferson Memorial]

To be free is not merely to cast off one's chains,
but to live in a way that respects
and enhances the freedom of others.
- Nelson Mandela

We cannot defend freedom abroad by deserting it at home.
- Edward R. Murrow

Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.
- Emma Lazarus - written on the Statue of Liberty in New York harbor

Give to every human being every right that you claim for yourself.
- Robert Green Ingersoll

The best way to enhance freedom in other lands
is to demonstrate here that our democratic system is worthy of emulation.
- Jimmy Carter

Further reading: Uncharted Territory

Take Action About Things That Matter

No Need to Conform

The Freedom of Others

Rise Above the Madness of the World

2026-07-07T00:30:00.000-04:00

May your life always be Counterpoint to the Clamor of the World.
May you delight in Dancing Lightly With Life.
May you soar on eagle wings, high above the madness of the world.
May you always sing Melody in the Symphony of Your Life.
May you taste, smell, and touch your dreams of a beautiful tomorrow.
May your sun always shine, and your sky be forever blue.

- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

When we get too caught up in the busyness of the world,

we lose connection with one another - and ourselves.
- Jack Kornfield

Wherever I am, the world comes after me.
It offers me its busyness.
It does not believe that I do not want it.
- Mary Oliver

The world clamors, "Do more! Be all that you can be!"
But our Father whispers, "Be still and know that I am God [Psalm 46:10]."
- Joanna Weaver

Today's affirmation:
I am Counterpoint to the Clamor of the World.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Ten Little Tips to Feel Happier Right Now

A Life of Harmony

Make Healthy Choices to Relieve Stress

Try Meditation

12 Ways to De-Stress Your Life

Choose Compassion, Experience Oneness

2026-07-06T00:30:00.000-04:00

You may call God love, you may call God goodness.
But the best name for God is compassion.
- Meister Eckhart

Praying without ceasing is not ritualized,
nor are there even words.
It is a constant state of awareness of oneness with God.
- Peace Pilgrim

I distrust those people who know so well
what God wants them to do,
because I notice it always coincides
with their own desires.
- Susan B. Anthony

He who is persistent will realize God.
So try your best to make meditation
a regular experience in your life.
- Paramahansa Yogananda

The style of God venerated in the church, mosque, or synagogue
seems completely different from the style of the natural universe.
- Alan Watts

When the universal sacraments of compassion and joy
fill the vast cathedral of our being,
we become the face of God.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Everything is God

Surrender to God

Solitude vs. Feeling Lonely

Be an Open Channel

Breathe, Smile, Create Happiness

2026-07-05T00:30:00.000-04:00

Just smiling goes a long way toward making you feel better about life.
And when you feel better about life, your life is better.
- Art Linkletter

First ask yourself: What is the worst that can happen?
Then prepare to accept it.
Then proceed to improve on the worst.
- Dale Carnegie

The lure of the distant and the difficult is deceptive.
The great opportunity is where you are.
- John Burroughs

Smile and the world smiles with you.
- Anonymous

Peace begins with a smile.
- Mother Teresa

Always do the best you can,
and everything else will take care of itself.
Focus your energies on doing what you can
rather than worrying about what you can't.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

A smile that begins as an effort and a pretense quickly grows to become genuine,
and given time, a habit of happiness. In the words of Zen master Thich Nhat Hanh, "Sometimes your joy is the source of your smile, but sometimes your smile can be the source of your joy.

Inner Smile Exercise:
1. Breath slowly, deeply, and consciously.
2. Close your eyes and set the corners of your mouth in just the slightest smile.
3. Visualize your smile growing larger and larger, and your happiness increasing.

Today's affirmation:
Every day in every way I am getting better and better.
- Émile Coué

Further reading: Ten Little Tips to Feel Happier Right Now

No Regrets

Beyond Your Worries

For Any Provocation, You Can Choose Your Response

2026-07-04T00:30:00.000-04:00

We cannot choose our external circumstances,
but we can always choose how to respond to them.
- Epictetus

You don't have the power to make life "fair,"
but you do have the power to make life joyful.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

I am determined to be cheerful and happy
in whatever situation I may find myself.
For I have learned that the greater part of our misery or unhappiness
is determined not by our circumstance but by our disposition.
- Martha Washington

Life is 10% what happens to me and 90% how I react to it.
- Charles R. Swindoll

CHOOSE Your Response to Life's Provocations.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

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

Life as a Dance

Your attitude determines the quality of your life

I Hope You Dance with Life

2026-07-03T00:30:00.000-04:00

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

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

When you dance, your purpose is not to get to a certain place on the floor.
It's to enjoy each step along the way.
- Wayne Dyer

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

Life may not be the party we hoped for,
but while we are here we might as well dance.
- Anonymous

Dance like no one is watching,
love like you'll never be hurt.
Sing like no one is listening.
Live life like it's heaven on earth.
- Anonymous (various attributions and alternate phrasings)

Happiness lies in the joy of achievement
and the thrill of creative effort.
- Franklin D. Roosevelt

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

Further reading: How to Find Joy in Our Troubled Lives

Choose to Love Life

Appreciate Today

Today is Your Day (long form of my poem)

Your Life is Not Defined by Age

2026-07-02T00:30:00.000-04:00

Do what you can,
with what you have,
where you are.
- Theodore Roosevelt

And in the end, it's not
the years in your life that count,
it's the life in your years.
- Abraham Lincoln

You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream.
- C. S. Lewis

Whenever you are asked if you can do a job,
tell 'em, Certainly I Can. -
and get busy and find out how to do it.
- Theodore Roosevelt

You are only as old as you think you are.
- Anonymous

What is age but a number.
What you can dream, you can become, at any age.
Live your best life, not your age.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Growing Up Without Growing Old

Never Too Late

Ways to Stay Young

Clearly Understand What You Want; THEN Take Action

2026-07-01T00:30:00.000-04:00

If you don't know what you want, you will probably never get it.
- Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.

Read: How to Choose Your Life Purpose

If you don't know what port you are steering for,
no wind is favorable to you.
- Seneca [paraphrase]

Efforts and courage are not enough without purpose and direction.
- John F. Kennedy

The tragedy of life doesn't lie in not reaching your goal.
The tragedy lies in having no goal to reach.
- Benjamin Mays

Strategy without tactics is the slowest route to victory.
Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.
- Sun Tzu

Further reading: Where Are You Going?

Choosing Your Destination

To Live, Not Merely To Exist

What is my happiness supposed to look like?

Creating Your Own Future

How to Deal with Anger and Frustration

2026-06-30T00:30:00.000-04:00

When you are angry or frustrated, what comes out?
Whatever it is, it's a good indication of what you're made of.
- H. Jackson Brown, Jr.

Consult not your fears but your hopes and your dreams.
Think not about your frustrations,
but about your unfulfilled potential.
Concern yourself not with what you tried and failed in,
but with what it is still possible for you to do.
- Pope John XXIII

Our frustration is greater when we have much and want more
than when we have nothing and want some.
We are less dissatisfied when we lack many things than
when we seem to lack but one thing.
- Eric Hoffer

If you get frustrated by some of your family,
focus on the good aspects of your relationship
and attempt to overlook the irritations.
Then give thanks for everyone who plays a part in your life.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

My recipe for dealing with anger and frustration:
set the kitchen timer for twenty minutes,
cry, rant, and rave, and at the sound of the bell,
simmer down and go about business as usual.
- Phyllis Diller

All that is necessary to break the spell of inertia and frustration is this:
Act as if it were impossible to fail.
That is the talisman, the formula, the command of right
about face which turns us from failure to success.
- Dorthea Brande

Redirect the substantial energy of your frustration
and turn it into positive,
effective, unstoppable determination.
- Ralph Marston

Further reading: How to be Positive Around Negative People

s How to Move On and Let Go

When You Feel Sad for No Apparent Reason

How to Think Positive

Hold Peace Toward ALL in Your Own Heart

2026-06-29T00:30:00.000-04:00

Always hold peace toward all in your own heart.
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

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

We can never obtain peace in the outer world
until we make peace with ourselves.
- Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama

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

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

Further reading: Feed Just One

Commitment To Service

The Good Samaritan

Help Others

Encourage Others

How Helping Others Helps You

Never Ignore the Beauty in Life

2026-06-28T00:30:00.000-04:00

Even those things which seem out of reach of our choice
are governed by how we choose to perceive them.
- Mary Anne Radmacher

Much in life can be seen as ugly or beautiful - it's our choice.
Why would we choose to see any part of life as ugly?
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

There is nothing true anywhere,
The true is nowhere to be seen;
If you say you see the true,
This seeing is not the true one.
- Abraham Lincoln paraphrasing Lao Tzu's Tao te Ching

Always Look, with Gratitude, for the Best in Life.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Seeing the light is a choice, not seeing the light is no choice.
- Douglas Horton

Change what you see,
by changing how you see.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Beauty is in the eye of the beholder

Labels

Opinions

Finding Beauty

In All Circumstances, YOU Get to CHOOSE How YOU Respond

2026-06-27T00:30:00.000-04:00

Our lives are defined not by the challenges we encounter,
but by how we respond to those challenges.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Argue for your limitations, and sure enough they're yours.
- Richard Bach

You may not seem able to change some outer circumstances
but you can start by changing your inner experience of life and yourself.
- Joy Page

It's not the situation that's causing your stress,
it's your thoughts,
and you can change that right here and now.
- Gerald Jampolsky

Circumstance does not make the man; it reveals him to himself.
- James Allen

A little more persistence,
a little more effort, and
what seemed hopeless failure
may turn to glorious success.
- Elbert Hubbard

Eventually we all have to accept full and total responsibility for our actions,
everything we have done, and have not done.
- Hubert Selby Jr.

Your RESPONSE to any situation is your own RESPONSibility.
You are given your circumstances; you choose your response.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Don't Give Up

Thoughtful Response, Not Panic

Life is Not Hopeless

Create Happiness

Open Your Heart, Change Your Life

2026-06-26T00:30:00.000-04:00

You change your life by changing your heart.
- Max Lucado

Thinkers do not accept the inevitable;
they turn their efforts toward changing it.
- Paramahansa Yogananda

If you take the responsibility for your life,
you can start changing it.
- Osho

It’s the most unhappy people who most fear change.
- Mignon McLaughlin

Everyone thinks of changing the world,
but no one thinks of changing himself.
- Leo Tolstoy

When you are through changing, you are through.
- Bruce Barton

Further reading: A New Perspective

Moving Forward

Rattlesnake of the Mind

Perspective on Tradition: An Open Mind

New Times Require New Ways of Thinking and Doing

2026-06-25T00:30:00.000-04:00

New Times Require New Ways of Thinking and Doing.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Insanity is doing the same thing, over and over again,
but expecting different results.
- Rita Mae Brown (also attributed to Einstein)

Only when we realize that there is no eternal,
unchanging truth or absolute truth, can we arouse in
ourselves a sense of intellectual responsibility.
- Hu Shih

Be resolute in your goals, but flexible in your tactics.
There are times that call for repetition and perseverance;
and there are times that require new ways of thinking and doing.
The challenge is knowing one from the other.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Stay committed to your decisions, but stay flexible in your approach.
- Tony Robbins

Whatever you want in life, start today. Not tomorrow - today.
Let it be a small beginning - a tiny beginning.
Your happiness depends on starting today - every day.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: A Better Plan

It's Never Too Late

How to Keep Your New Years Resolutions