Believe

Those who believe they can do something
and those who believe they can't
are both right.
- Henry Ford

Stand often in the company of dreamers.
They believe you can achieve impossible things.
- Mary Anne Radmacher

Your life becomes what you believe.
- Jewel

Further reading: How To Not Care What Others Think

How to Deal with Rejection

How to Be Yourself

Self Confidence

Quotes to Live By

Words of Inspiration

Motivational Quotes

Positive Quotes

Powerful Quotes

Beliefs, convictions, opinions.

We don't see things as they are,
we see things as we are.
- Anaïs Nin

It all depends on how we look at things,
and not how they are in themselves.
- Carl Jung

Everyone believes that their beliefs are the right ones -
that is why they are called beliefs.
- jlh

Beliefs, convictions, opinions. When does a belief bring out the best in you? When does a belief hold you prisoner to yesterday and limit your options for designing a great future?

Test your beliefs with as much objectivity as you can bring to the subject. Be willing to let go of those beliefs that represent your parents' opinions or your communities opinions rather than your own.

Those beliefs that withstand rigorous testing become the foundation of your being - your reason for living. Take action on those beliefs.

Further reading: The Nature of Belief

How to Share Your Thoughts With the World - Blogging, Letters to the Editor, and much more

Assumptions

How to Stop Worrying

Don't believe yourself

Quotes on Attitude

Know Thyself Quotes

Motivational Quotes

Belief, Persistence, and Purpose are keys to success.

Those who believe they can do something
and those who believe they can't
are both right.
- Henry Ford

Wealth, like happiness, is never attained when sought after directly. It comes as a by-product of providing a useful service.
- Henry Ford

Obstacles are those frightful things you see when you take your eyes off your goals.
- Henry Ford

Belief, Persistence, and Purpose are keys to success.

Further reading: How to Stay Positive

How to Find Yourself

How to Get Motivated

Motivational Sayings

Funny Motivational Quotes

Never Give Up Quotes

Your belief will make it so.

Faith is taking the first step even when you don't see the whole staircase.
- Martin Luther King, Jr.

Whoever is happy will make others happy too.
- Anne Frank

Hopeful thinking can get you out of your fear zone and into your appreciation zone.
- Martha Beck

Your belief will make it so.

Further reading: The Nature of Belief

Attitude is Everything

Unanswered Prayers

Renewal and Rebirth - The Great Cycle

Every thought we think is creating our future. - Louise L. Hay

Every thought we think is creating our future.
- Louise L. Hay

Those who believe they can do something and those who believe they can't are both right.
- Henry Ford

Well-being is making its way to you at all times.
If you will relax and find a way to allow it, it will be your experience.
- Abraham (Esther Hicks)

Attitude is Everything.
- Anonymous

When we complain, our lives get worse. When we trust in the natural goodness around us, we open ourselves for the blessings of life to flow toward us.

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Carl Jung quotes: Naturally, every age thinks that all ages before it were prejudiced

Naturally, every age thinks that all ages before it were prejudiced, and today we think this more than ever and are just as wrong as all previous ages that thought so. How often have we not seen the truth condemned! It is sad but unfortunately true that man learns nothing from history. - Carl Jung

Our honorable and worthy ancestors knew that the world was flat, motionless, and the center of the universe. They knew the human body could not withstand the forces of traveling on a train moving faster than 19 mph. They knew that the way to salvation was exorcising witches and slaying non-believers. They knew that it was a mortal sin to marry someone of a different skin color.

Our grandchildren's grandchildren will shake their heads in shame at some of the beliefs that we hold most dear today - the question is, which ones?

*** Book of the day: Emotional Freedom: Liberate Yourself from Negative Emotions and Transform Your Life

Further reading: How do You View the World?

Eleanor Roosevelt quote: The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.

Carl Jung quotes

Lao Tzu: He who knows others is wise. He who knows himself is enlightened.

I have a Dream... Martin Luther King Jr.

I have a Dream...
- Martin Luther King Jr.

I get goosebumps whenever I listen to Dr. King's speech. Do I believe in the content of Dr. King's Dream? Very much so. But far beyond that, I hold his level of conviction as an example for all our lives.

• Have a Vision, a Dream.
• Believe in that Vision.
• Live that Vision with every fiber of your being.

Henry Ford: Those who believe they can do something and those who believe they can't are both right.

Those who believe they can do something and those who believe they can't are both right.
- Henry Ford

Whether the challenge is reaching the moon, sailing around the world, hitting a home run, acing a job interview, or walking again after a stroke, we can usually accomplish what we believe we can. But once we doubt ourselves, success slips beyond our grasp.

Further reading:

Eleanor Roosevelt quote: The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.

Helen Keller: Life is either a daring adventure or nothing.

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

ACTION - the sixth Point of Simply An Inspired Life

The beauty does not live out there; the beauty's in my eyes. - Jonathan Lockwood Huie

The beauty does not live out there; the beauty's in my eyes.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Perspective. Point-of-view. Is something ugly, or beautiful? Noble or insensitive? There are six billion ways of seeing life.

Everyone believes that their beliefs are the right ones -
that is why they are called beliefs.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: A flower is a weed seen through joyful eyes. - jlh

Don't believe yourself.

Life is magnificent - just as it comes.

Visualize a kinder world

The Nature of Belief

What do you believe? Why do you believe that? What is the fundamental nature of belief?

Is a belief a perception of the five senses or is it a perception of emotional feeling? Is it better to say "I sense" and/or "I feel"? Is it better to say " I know" than "I believe"? Is belief based on experience or on a idea? My thinking is that belief/believing is a very missed used word.
- Anonymous

These are BIG questions with several facets...

Language: Before we can get down to true thoughts and feelings, we have to deal with language. We may call it "English," but we don't speak the same language. We have regional differences and cultural differences as well as personal differences. In addition, our language is changing rapidly. We may agree on words like "door" and "walk," but words like "belief" and "God" call up different images for each of us.

Some words are "trigger" words. "Liar" is certainly a trigger word for many people. It creates an emotional reaction that is way beyond the literal meaning of the word. A few days ago, I discovered to my dismay that the word "scapegoat" is that kind of trigger word for a few people. It is very easy to use someone else's trigger word in a completely innocent way, as I did, and then be accused of making a racial, religious, gender, or personal slur.

Getting back to "belief," when one is having a deep one-on-one conversation, it is worthwhile to create a mutual working definition of the key terms of the conversation, such as "belief." In public speaking or writing, sometimes it is important to state one's own definition of key terms, as I do in Simply An Inspired Life.

On a day-to-day basis, however, just be clear with yourself about what you mean in conversations with others and especially with yourself.

In everyday conversation, I seldom attempt to be truly precise in my speaking. Like most people, I say "It's a beautiful day." and "The cheesecake is terrible." and "He shouldn't talk to her like that." I KNOW those are merely my opinions, but it's impractical to label everything I say as being my opinion. Everything I and everyone else ever says or thinks is merely an opinion, whether it regards the nature of God or the state of the cheesecake.

So how do we form our opinions? Our opinions (or our beliefs, feelings, prejudices, or knowledge, if you prefer) come from only two sources, our genetics and our history. "Prejudice" is another trigger word, but it describes an often-valid practice. Our ancestors wouldn't have survived without prejudice. If I watched my father being eaten by a lion, I become prejudiced against all lions. Perhaps the next lion would be friendly, but ... NO, of course I don't think religious, racial, or similar prejudices are okay, but I do understand that they are based on instinctive generalizations.

Whether we say "It is my opinion," "I believe," "I feel," "I sense," "I know," or just state something as if it were a fact (such as "The cheesecake is terrible."), we are speaking about our perception of the world as we relate to it, and cannot with any validity imagine how others perceive their worlds. Moreover, I contend that it is presumptuous for us to think we know how others SHOULD perceive their worlds.

Further reading: Suggestions for Reading Daily Inspiration - Daily Quote

Meddling - 5 Questions To Ask Yourself Before Offering Helpful Advice

Friedrich Nietzsche: There are no facts, only interpretations

Perspectives on the Nature of God - Which of these Five Views Matches Yours?

Oscar Wilde quote: Morality is simply the attitude we adopt towards people whom we personally dislike.

Resilience is about believing in yourself, and trusting your own wisdom rather than being swayed by the opinions of others. - jlh

Resilience

Resilience is about believing in yourself, and trusting your own wisdom rather than being swayed by the opinions of others.

Choose the World You See, and See the World You Choose.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

There is nothing I ever need to have.
There is nothing I ever need to do.
Say NO to the demands of the world.
Say YES to the longings of your own heart.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

I do not need anyone's permission to be my true self.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

I have no need to conform to the stereotypes others have defined for me.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Life is unlimited - it expands with the generosity, compassion, inventiveness, and service that you contribute.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Value your own opinion more, and others' opinions less.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further Reading: "I set my own course through the ocean of life." - Jonathan Lockwood Huie

The Wisdom of Gandhi

The Serenity Prayer - God grant me the serenity...

We never see Life as it really is

Oscar Wilde quote: Morality is simply the attitude we adopt towards people whom we personally dislike.

Morality is simply the attitude we adopt towards people whom we personally dislike.
- Oscar Wilde

I don't agree with the universality of this Ocsar Wilde quote, but there is a painful degree to truth to it. By all means have values, and support those values. However, be conscious of never mistaking the superficial differences of others as being an attack on your core values. Let your motto be, "Live and Let Live."

Some describe Oscar Wilde (1854-1900 Irish playwright, poet and author) as brilliant, others as snotty. Personally, I don't resonate with his style in general, but I find value in the following sayings.

The true mystery of the world is the visible, not the invisible.
- Oscar Wilde

A man can't be too careful in the choice of his enemies.
- Oscar Wilde

A man who does not think for himself does not think at all.
- Oscar Wilde

An idea that is not dangerous is unworthy of being called an idea at all.
- Oscar Wilde

Consistency is the last refuge of the unimaginative.
- Oscar Wilde

Every saint has a past and every sinner has a future.
- Oscar Wilde

Everything popular is wrong.
- Oscar Wilde

Experience is simply the name we give our mistakes.
- Oscar Wilde

Hatred is blind, as well as love.
- Oscar Wilde

I always pass on good advice. It is the only thing to do with it. It is never of any use to oneself.
- Oscar Wilde

I am not young enough to know everything.
- Oscar Wilde

In all matters of opinion, our adversaries are insane.
- Oscar Wilde

Life is never fair, and perhaps it is a good thing for most of us that it is not.
- Oscar Wilde

Life is too important to be taken seriously.
- Oscar Wilde

Selfishness is not living as one wishes to live, it is asking others to live as one wishes to live.
- Oscar Wilde

Some cause happiness wherever they go; others whenever they go.
- Oscar Wilde

What lies beyond the veil?

Except for the saintly, all of us have doubts about what lies beyond the veil of death.

Some of us openly acknowledge that we have no idea what follows death. Others avow a firm belief, but harbor secret doubts. Very few have an unwavering belief in the exact nature of their destination.

Fear of the unknown is the greatest fear of humankind, and death is our greatest unknown. What to do? Acknowledging the doubts and the fears is a powerful beginning. It is liberating to say, "Yes, I don't know, and yes, I am afraid." Beyond that, the path to happiness lies in living in the moment - enjoying what you are doing today. You don't need a reason to be happy, just a choice.

Suggestions for Reading Daily Inspiration - Daily Quote

There will be days when you say, "That's obvious, everybody knows that." Let those days be a gentle reminder.

There will be days when the picture and the quote make you feel good, and you say, "Ah." Let those days be tranquil and comforting.

There will be days when you say, "Huh, what does that quote mean?" Let those be days of inquiry and questioning.

There will be days when you say, "NO WAY! That doesn't agree with my view of how things should be." Let those be days for accepting diversity. Ask, question, then listen to your own heart and mind. Only you can choose your beliefs.

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

Siddhattha Gotama, known as the Buddha, lived in India about 500 BC - at the time the second temple was being constructed in Jerusalem. He was a wise teacher, and is revered, but never worshiped, by those of the Buddhist philosophy.

Meddling - 5 Questions To Ask Yourself Before Offering Helpful Advice

Meddling - 5 Questions To Ask Yourself Before Offering Helpful Advice
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Again, I found myself meddling in the affairs of others. All too often my intention to be supportive and generous runs amok. In the aftermath, I tell myself that I will never do that again, but I do. Actually, I wouldn't want it any other way. The line between "helpful" and meddling is so easy to cross. The only way that I could ensure that I never meddled would be to completely disavow being helpful.

Byron Katie speaks of "my business, your business, and God's business." Everything that happens in the world, or doesn't happen, is NOT my responsibility. There are more than enough things that are my responsibility. I am responsible for my thoughts, my beliefs, and my actions - and that is enough. It does not serve me to mind anyone else's business. I can only make myself unhappy by trying to second guess what anyone else thinks or does.

That's all easy enough to say in the abstract, but when the other person is our friend, spouse, parent, adult son or daughter, or co-worker, it doesn't come at all naturally to remain detached. For many of us, staying in our own business requires a lifetime of self-reminders.

Often we meddle out of a sincere desire to help another, so how can we know when we have gone too far? We have overstepped our bounds whenever we cross the line from assisting others in getting what they want to believing that we know better than they what they SHOULD want.

Through painful experience, I have found five questions to ask myself to help determine whether I am providing assistance or meddling.

1. Did the other person ask for help, advice, or opinion? If the answer is No, then I am meddling. The first and greatest rule is,

Unsolicited Advice Is Always Meddling

2. Even if the person has broadcast a request for help or advice, did they ask for MY advice? When someone is drowning, they will accept a life-ring thrown by a stranger, but advice is only appreciated if the asker fully trusts and respects the advisor.

3. Do I fully respect the other person? While I can responsibly make decisions for a child or a senile person, it is pure meddling for me to believe that I know better than another competent adult how they should live their life. As an example, trying to find friends for someone who has clearly expressed a preference for solitude is meddling.

4. Is the issue a question of belief? Proselytizing is always meddling. My beliefs about religion, politics, the best natural supplements, or whatever, are just my personal beliefs, nothing more. If someone ASKS, I am happy to share about what gives my own life joy and meaning, but whenever I attempt to convert someone else's beliefs, I must be very clear that I am doing it for my own gains, and not as a service to the other.

5. Have I previously attempted to assist this person with this same issue in the past? If I have been asked again, and if I find a different way to be helpful, it's not meddling, but if I continually offer the same advice for the same problem, it crosses the line into meddling.

Compassion and generosity may well be the greatest human virtues, but it is also important to avoid letting these noble instincts cause inadvertent harm to those we want to help.

Star Trek Quotes - Wisdom from the Movies and Television

Star Trek Quotes:

Humans do have an amazing capacity for believing what they choose, and excluding that which is painful.
Spock

In critical moments men sometimes see exactly what they wish to see.
Spock

Change is the essential process of all existence.
Spock

Thomas Jefferson: I never considered a difference of opinion in politics, in religion, in philosophy, as cause for withdrawing from a friend.

I never considered a difference of opinion in politics, in religion, in philosophy, as cause for withdrawing from a friend.
- Thomas Jefferson

Ralph Waldo Emerson: A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds

A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

Martin Luther King, Jr. - Faith is taking the first step even when you don't see the whole staircase.

Faith is taking the first step even when you don't see the whole staircase.
- Martin Luther King, Jr.

Begin today. Act on your vision. Do your best. If you take action, you may succeed or you may fail, but if you do nothing, the only possible outcome is failure.

Friedrich Nietzsche: There are no facts, only interpretations

There are no facts, only interpretations.
- Friedrich Nietzsche

What we see depends more on ourselves than on what is "out there." We see what we assume (believe) will be there. We see what we expect (demand) to be there. We see what we fear will be there. And we see what we wish will be there. Then we label what we "see" as facts.

Wherever there are disagreements and confrontations, there are at least two perfectly valid interpretations that are vehemently labeled as "fact." Everyone considers "I'm right, you're wrong," to be a fact - the only difference is to whom "I" and "you" refer.