Finishing

Finish each day and be done with it.
You have done what you could;
some blunders and absurdities have crept in;
forget them as soon as you can.
Tomorrow is a new day;
you shall begin it serenely
and with too high a spirit
to be encumbered with your old nonsense.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

"Begin at the beginning," the King said, very gravely,
"and go on till you come to the end: then stop."
- Lewis Carroll

As this year winds down, choose to declare completion on your lingering projects, and to prepare for new beginnings.

100 Secrets for Living a Life You Love - You can live the life you love - even in the face of the most challenging circumstances. While sometimes it may appear that life throws more obstacles in your path than you can handle, you can always choose to be happy. Yes, you are that powerful.
By Jonathan Lockwood Huie

OR Enter discount code 4GY92RQ9 at checkout to receive a 25% discount off your entire order when you order direct from my publisher.

Further reading: Completion

Getting Un-Stuck

Choose Your Habits, Choose Your Life

Being Yourself Quotes

Quotes about the Future

Quotes about Values

Quotes about Choice

Quotes about Being Happy

Endings and New Beginnings

To everything there is a season,
and a time to every purpose under heaven:
A time to be born, and a time to die.
- Ecclesiastes 3:1

Just when the caterpillar thought
the world was over, it became a butterfly.
- Anonymous

The winds of grace are always blowing;
all we need to do is raise our sails.
- Anonymous

Accept endings cheerfully, for they clear the way for new beginnings.

Further reading: Unanswered Prayers

Renewal and Rebirth - The Great Cycle

Life is All in the Perspective We Take on It

Short Inspirational Quotes

Inspirational Change Quotes

Inspirational Quotes

Bible Quotes

Endings-Beginnings

Celebrate endings - for they precede new beginnings.
- jlh

In the midst of difficulty lies opportunity.
- Albert Einstein

My Mama always said
you've got to put the past behind you
before you can move on.
- the movie Forrest Gump

When one door of happiness closes, another opens,
but often we look so long at the closed door
that we do not see the one that has been opened for us.
- Helen Keller

All good things end - and new good things begin.

Further reading: Renewal and Rebirth - The Great Cycle

Question Your Questions

The Jump is So Frightening - Mary Anne Radmacher

Maybe So, Maybe Not. - Ancient Taoist Proverb

Lessons quotes

Moving On Quotes

my own quotes about moving on

my quotes about endings

Stop holding on to the past

What's done is done.
- William Shakespeare

My Mama always said you've got to put the past behind you before you can move on.
- the movie Forrest Gump

Before moving on, you have to clear away your cherished beliefs.
- Dick Raymond

Stop holding on to the past.

Release your regrets about whatever you may have done or failed to do that turned out poorly.

Forgive others for whatever they may have done or failed to do that cause you harm.

Declare today to be a new beginning. Let go of the past and move on with creating a joyful new future for yourself.

Further reading: How to Deal with Rejection

How to Move On and Let Go

A ceremony for releasing your troubles

Renewal and Rebirth - The Great Cycle

Beyond the Grief of Divorce - 7 Steps Toward New Beginnings

Moving On Quotes

Quotes about Life Lessons

*** Book of the day

Attitude Is Everything

Celebrate Endings

The beginnings and endings of all human undertakings are untidy.
- John Galsworthy

My Mama always said you've got to put the past behind you before you can move on.
- the movie Forrest Gump

Faith is the bird that feels the light and sings when the dawn is still dark.
- Rabindranath Tagore

Celebrate endings - for they precede new beginnings.
- jlh

Cheer for endings -- whether goals have been met or not -- whether the ending is tidy or ragged. Without endings, there would be neither the opportunity nor the incentive to think new thoughts, and to begin great new projects.

Further reading: You have not been abandoned

Fear of the Unknown

Fear is a Bully

Happy Quotes about Life
Inspirational Pictures
Sayings about Life
Empowering Quotes
Strong Quotes

In the midst of difficulty lies opportunity. - Albert Einstein

In the midst of difficulty lies opportunity.
- Albert Einstein

Faith is the bird that feels the light and sings when the dawn is still dark.
- Rabindranath Tagore

Celebrate endings - for they precede new beginnings. - jlh

Success often grows best in the fertile soil of failure.

10 book
For Women by Women
Desktop Collection

Simple Truth's Inspirational and Motivational Gift Books (most with Free DVD) and Framed Inspirations make GREAT Holiday Presents. Browse for a Simple Truths gift for everyone on your list at
www.shareasale.com/r.cfm?U=348839&B=161364&M=17824

Further reading: New Beginnings: A Time to Begin Anew

Six Ways to End Bickering About Money

Beyond the Grief of Divorce - 7 Steps Toward New Beginnings

Mary Anne Radmacher: Old Beginnings versus NEW beginnings

Love Quotes

Romantic Quotes

Funny Love Quotes

Sweet Quotes

Balance is Key

Manage the remarkable balance between acting from your heart and close to your gifts with completing the obligations that your labor and tasks require of you. Leverage opportunity AND seize joy.
- Mary Anne Radmacher

Better learn balance. Balance is key.
- Miyagi: character in the movie Karate Kid

Balance activity with serenity, wealth with simplicity, persistence with innovation, community with solitude, familiarity with adventure, constancy with change, leading with following.
- jlh

A time for everything: a time to relax and a time to be busy, a time to frolic and a time to lay up food for the winter, a time to receive and a time to give, a time to begin and a time to finish.

*** This "Black Friday" don't waste your time, or your gas, driving from one overcrowded store to another looking for deals. Shop on-line and get GREAT bargains on everything from TVs to sports equipment, jewelery to games, DVDs to toys, clothing to watches.
Click here for GREAT DEALS.

Further reading: Finding Balance in Life vs Moderation: 8 Ways to Balance Your Life

How to Live a Stress-Free Life: 7 Tips for Stress-Free Living

Time, like life itself, has no inherent meaning.

Take time to play!

Quotes about Moving On

Quotes to Live By

New Beginning Quotes

No Regrets Quotes

Starting Over Quotes

What's done is done - William Shakespeare

What's done is done - William Shakespeare

Shakespeare is talking about acceptance. The facts of the past can never be changed. What we can choose is how we view those facts and whether we allow them to corrupt our future. Whatever happened, you did the best you could, given the knowledge and abilities you had at the time. Tomorrow is a new day. Begin with a fresh outlook that does not project your past into your future.

Consider reviewing Visualize a kinder world

Joseph Campbell: We must be willing to get rid of the life we've planned, so as to have the life that is waiting for us

We must be willing to get rid of the life we've planned, so as to have the life that is waiting for us. The old skin has to be shed before the new one can come.
- Joseph Campbell

Good Endings precede Good Beginnings. If it isn't working, release it. If life isn't following the course you wanted, release your expectations and choose to love the life you have.

Every day is a new beginning - a day for a new plan and new action. If today, in conscious awareness, you choose the same plan as yesterday, you are wise. If you choose a different plan, you are equally wise. Whatever you choose, choose with intention.

Mary Anne Radmacher: Old Beginnings versus NEW beginnings

Old Beginnings versus NEW beginnings….

I was relating the details of a conflict to my coach. In my mind it was fresh to a life long issue. It was new information and I was pleased with my approach. My coach asked, “Why have you done the same thing you have always done in this circumstance?”

I told her I didn’t understand the question. She offered the candid observation, “I know you think you’ve made a new beginning. But really all you’ve done is used different words with the same approach you’ve always used. Really! You need to reach for a NEW beginning … not the same old beginning you’ve always used.”

The irony has remained with me. Hmmmm. A beginning that’s actually OLD. The phrase “new beginnings” at first seems redundant. It’s actually a profound challenge.

Have your new year’s resolutions been a new beginning for you or have they, like my approach to an old conflict, just been different words on the same old beginning? Maybe now’s the time to establish a new pattern of viewing your life fresh for 2009.

- Mary Anne Radmacher

Read Jonathan's latest articles on relationship issues

Should You Try to Get Your Ex Back? When to Rekindle the Romance and When to Walk Away - 10 Questions You Need to Ask

Trying to Get Your Ex Back? A Look at the 10 Best and Worst Ways to Rekindle the Romance

Forrest Gump Movie Quotes - Forrest Gump Quotes

Quotes from the movie Forrest Gump:

Mama always said life was like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get.

My Mama always said you've got to put the past behind you before you can move on.

It happens - Sometimes.

I just wanted to tell you I love you.

If you're sick, I'll take care of you.

Momma always said dyin' was a part of life. I sure wish it wasn't.

Stupid is as stupid does.

Renewal and Rebirth - The Great Cycle

The darkest night is often the bridge to the brightest tomorrow
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

The crops were planted, tended, and harvested - now the ground lies fallow, awaiting the new planting. Did the year fail? I think not.

As the year has seasons, everything in life has its own cycles - its own rhythms. There will be a Winter, Spring, Summer, and Autumn every year. Every creature will be born, reproduce (or not), and die. A tortoise may live a century and a butterfly a few hours, but each has a cycle.

The unpredictable and irregular happenings of life's cycles are an inherent part of their nature. There are droughts and heat waves, injuries occur. The lion eats the zebra - one is nourished, one dies - neither failed.

Careers and relationships also have their cycles of birth, growth, and death - to be followed by rebirth and the renewal of the cycle.

The ending of a job or a relationship may appear as the darkest night, but it is merely the Winter season - the time of renewal and rebirth that precedes the new planting - the beginning of the next great cycle.

Beyond the Grief of Divorce - 7 Steps Toward New Beginnings

If you have been divorced, you know it hurts - especially if your marriage had lasted many years. Whatever the circumstances of your relationship, and whatever the nature of its ending, there is always grief and regret - perhaps regret over the ending or perhaps regret over not ending the relationship sooner - or perhaps both. How to move past the grief and regret? No matter how painful, divorce, like all endings, opens the door to new beginnings. Let's examine several.

1. Get support: Don't be embarrassed to ask friends for support. Join a divorce support group. Join a more general women's or men's group like ManKind Project and share your story.

2. Reconsider your obligations: In reality, you have NO obligations. There is nothing you ever have to do, because everything you do or don't do is always a choice. Be especially clear that you don't owe anyone an explanation or justification for any of your actions - ever.

3. Simplify your life: There is nothing that you really NEED to have. Material possessions seldom bring joy. Consider eliminating whatever you haven't used in a year, and minimizing new purchases - not based on economy, but on your choice for leading a simple unencumbered life.

4. Try something new: What have you been wanting to do, but couldn't find the time or commitment to begin? Perhaps yoga, qigong, stretching, walking, a new spiritual class, a book discussion group, ballroom dancing.

5. Learn and explore: You are never too old for learning and discovery. Open your mind. Study something you always wanted to know about but that didn't seem necessary or practical - other cultures and times, comparative religion, whatever calls you.

6. Volunteer: Nothing works better for relieving self-pity than helping others who are worse off. Fill the time you would have spent feeling sorry for yourself by giving something of yourself to others.

7. Get away: If you can possibly afford it, take a trip with a group of compatible people - perhaps a spiritual journey. Also, ask what is tying you to the community where you currently reside. Now is a time to consider the question of where, and how, you really want to live.

Believe in yourself. You have free will. You, and only you, are responsible for your life.

Also read my article 7 Secrets for a Happy Life.

Celebrate endings - for they precede new beginnings. - jlh

Celebrate endings - for they precede new beginnings. - jlh

Endings - sometimes a season of sorrow and grief. Endings - what must precede new beginnings. Life is an endless cycle of endings and beginnings. Renewal and rebirth cannot occur without endings - as the new year's crop can only be planted and flourish in the decay of last year.

How to be Happy - 7 Secrets for a Happy Life

7 Secrets for a Happy Life
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

We all want to be happy, but something always gets in the way. There is never enough time... or money. Somebody is always failing to do what they are "supposed" to do... or not do. Our boss, our spouse, our kids, our parents, our friends, government, big business, whoever... "They" aren't doing it right. "They" failed us. We are angry, and we have a right to be angry. But is that righteous anger making us happy?

Happiness is not something anyone else can give us... or take away from us. Happiness is what we make of our lives... or don't. Whatever our circumstances, we can create a joyful life... or a miserable life. It is up to us.

Here are 7 Secrets for a Happy Life

1. Respect Yourself: If I don't love and respect myself, who will? It all starts right here with ME. If I think that I'm a pretty good person, it doesn't much matter what anyone else thinks. And the irony is that once I like myself, most everyone else will like me too. People enjoy being around people who speak well of themselves - not in an arrogant boastful way, but with honest self-appreciation.

2. Forgive Everyone for Everything: Angry and happy don't mix. Flush out the angry, and the happy has a place to put down roots. Until we forgive everyone for everything, we hold on to anger and resentment. Once we forgive, we can become happy. Forgiving is not a gift to someone else - Forgiving is our gift to ourselves - a great gift - the gift of happiness.

3. Be Grateful for All of Life: Each of us has been infinitely blessed - beginning with the gift of life. Whatever may appear to be missing or broken on any particular day, our glass is not half full, it is 99.9% full. More practically, when we feel ungrateful, we become unhappy. When we choose to feel and express our gratitude, the act of feeling and speaking our thanks creates a happiness within us. The more we express our gratitude, the more we have for which to be grateful. Today and every day, take time to celebrate life - whether an hour's meditation in a quiet natural space, or a brief moment's conscious pause to breathe deeply and celebrate gratitude for life.

4. Choose Happiness: Everything in life is a choice. There is never anything we ever "need" to do. Every action and thought is a choice and has consequences - pleasant or unpleasant. Whether you go to work today, change jobs, smile at the bank teller, yell at your kids, complain about life, hold a daily celebration of gratitude for life - they are all choices. Happiness is a choice. Stay alert and make conscious choices for happiness.

5. Begin at the End: You can never reach your destination if you don't have a destination. Decide what accomplishments you want recorded on your tombstone. Take a whole quiet day to consider your life. Be very clear that your happiness does NOT depend on reaching your goal. In fact, it's the reverse. Your happiness depends on accepting whatever life throws at you while you walk the path toward your goal. What is important for your happiness is having a goal, and working toward it.

6. Start Today: 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.

7. Accept that Life is NOT "Supposed to be Fair": Know that there is no single way that life is "supposed" to be. Demanding that life meet our expectations is a sure fire recipe for a miserable existence. Life is a game with no rules. Life just happens to us regardless of our best intentions. Our only path to happiness lies in being open to receiving whatever life throws at us - with Gratitude. Have NO Expectations of life.