NO SUBSTITUTE FOR HAPPINESS

There is no substitute for happiness, nor does there need to be. Because happiness, peace, contentment and fulfillment are there for the living of them. You can fill your life with excitement and thrills, but those things on their own will not make you happy. You can load yourself up with material possessions, yet they are no substitute for being genuinely happy. Happiness is not something for which you must wait until the conditions are right. And happiness is not something that the right conditions, on their own, can ever bring you. Happiness is not just for a lucky few. It is for anyone who chooses to live and to express it. Happiness is not a selfish pursuit. Indeed, your genuine happiness brings value not only to you, but to those around you as well. You need no reason to be happy, and there is no reason that happiness can be withheld from you. Choose happiness, and choose to live each moment with the joy that is surely here.

HARMONY

Harmony does not mean that everyone is in agreement. It means that no one is attempting to force his or her opinions on others. Harmony does not mean that everyone is the same. It means that everyone respects and tolerates and even celebrates the differences that give so much richness to life. Harmony is not ever achieved by brute force. Harmony is reached when every individual understands, on his or her own terms, that it is by far the most effective way to live. Harmony does not come about through intimidation or scolding or threats of punishment. Harmony is reached through understanding. Harmony cannot exist where people are interested only in what they can take. Harmony is built through giving. Harmony comes not by giving in or by being weak or by surrendering one’s most treasured principles, or by the cowardly attempt to control others. Harmony is the domain of those who are confident enough in their own lives to allow others to peacefully flourish.

MIRROR

The good you find in others, is in you too. The faults you find in others, are your faults as well. After all, to recognize something you must know it. The possibilities you see in others, are possible for you as well. The beauty you see around you, is your beauty. The world around you is a reflection, a mirror showing you the person you are. To change your world, you must change yourself. To blame and complain will only make matters worse. Whatever you care about, is your responsibility. What you see in others, shows you yourself. See the best in others, and you will be your best. Give to others, and you give to yourself. Appreciate beauty, and you will be beautiful. Admire creativity, and you will be creative. Love, and you will be loved. Seek to understand, and you will be understood. Listen, and your voice will be heard. Teach, and you will learn. Show your best face to the mirror, and you’ll be happy with the face looking back at you.

BEAUTY

Appreciate beauty, and you will be beautiful. Give joy, and you will be joyful. Offer fulfillment, and you will be fulfilled. Even in the most painful times -- especially in the painful times -- absorb and enjoy the beauty that is around you. There is no virtue in keeping yourself miserable. Always, there is beauty to be found, and it is yours to enjoy. Drink in the beauty that is around you, and you’re able to give joy to others. Be thankful for the beauty and abundance of life, and it will grow. When you look for beauty you will find it, even in the most difficult circumstances. And that is when you need it most. Remember, life can be beautiful, and it will be if only you will let it be.

LOVE

Put no demands on love, and love will bring you much. Give love away, and it will be yours in greater and greater abundance. With love, what was weak will grow strong. With love, what was impossible becomes real. Love can find the beauty and value in even the most desperate situation. Love will bring hope where nothing else can. Though love cannot be explained, it can never be denied. Love has its own reality that transcends the most oppressive limitations. Love elevates what it touches to a higher dimension. When love is present, fears are calmed, wounds begin to heal, and joy is gloriously within reach. Love, not because there is a reason, but because there is the possibility. Love, and you will know what you cannot understand.

PEACE

Peace is not arrived at by merely doing nothing. On the contrary, peace is attained by doing substantive and significant things, and doing them without conflict. That means living with purpose, with love, compassion, forgiveness and genuine tolerance. It means putting your very best into the effort while at the same time detaching your sense of self worth from the result. Your life, your work and your whole world are all filled with conflicting interests. Yet that doesn’t mean you must handle them by fighting. In fact, diverse and conflicting interests can absolutely be resolved in much more positive ways, and it happens every day. That is one of life’s great challenges, and working through the challenge produces great value. Seek not merely to do significant things. Seek to achieve what you achieve with a peaceful heart, for that is true and sustainable achievement. Be fully engaged in life while also being completely at peace with who you are. It is indeed a powerful and fulfilling combination.

MISTAKES

You've made mistakes and yet you are able to recognize those mistakes for what they are, and to learn from them. There are times when you stumble, and wander away from the path, yet you’re always able to get up and find your way back. There is within you the longing for truth, for goodness, for excellence, substance, and integrity. Though your actions sometimes contradict and compromise that longing, it never goes away. The very best of who you are is always somewhere within you. Choose often to connect with it, and to let it resonate throughout the details of your life. As each moment unfolds, remember the good and valuable things of which you are capable. Pay attention to that longing for goodness, and follow where it leads. Hold in your heart those times when you’ve experienced how beautiful and blessed life can be. Treasure and strengthen the part of you that draws pure joy from those moments. You have known the goodness of life and you know that it is as close to you as you wish to make it. Choose to keep it ever close by.

BIGGER THAN YOU

If it were not for those who devote their lives, and who often give their lives, for a cause bigger than themselves, the world would be an entirely different place than it is today. We enjoy freedom because so many have served its cause and died for it. We benefit from knowledge, wisdom and faith because of all who have devoted their lives to advancing them. Each day you have an opportunity to continue that legacy and to expand upon its goodness. When you live your moments in the service of something bigger than yourself, you experience a fulfillment that goes beyond anything you could possibly find in self-centered pursuits. Take care of yourself, to be sure. That is your responsibility. Take care of your world as well, and make sure to leave each place you go, each person you meet, each moment you live, better off than you found them, better for your having been a part of them. That is the highest possible expression and expansion of yourself.

REFLECTION

The world you see is a reflection of what you think of it. The values by which you live are continually coming back to you. Your life embodies those ideas to which you give your complete and persistent attention. A life sincerely focused upon peace and happiness is a life filled with peace and happiness. Whatever you support with your actions and thoughts, you experience in the moments and days of your life. Whether desire or fear, curiosity or obsession, your thoughts pull you steadfastly toward your reality. You are, right now, busy becoming the person you think you will become. Today, already and always, you are living the life you most authentically expect to live. The simple act of intentionally deciding upon a destination will point you solidly in that direction. A small adjustment in your attitude can make a major difference in your world. Anything is possible. What actually happens in your life is an accurate reflection of how you see yourself living it.

CHOICE

Every choice you make, makes a difference. Remember always to use that power wisely. Every moment you live provides you with opportunity. Transform that opportunity into meaningful value in your own unique way. You have immense power over the quality of your life and the shape of your world. That power is exercised in the choices you make. When you live with positive purpose, a positive attitude and positive expectations, you’ll make positive, life-enriching choices. Those choices will reliably create a life of great fulfillment. What you think, what you feel, what you say and what you do all matter very much. In every moment, with every choice, you move your life in a specific direction.  Make the commitment to always make that direction a good and meaningful one. Choose wisely, and live magnificently.