Daily quotes with thoughtful reflections to inspire you every day.

| |

 

Somebody should tell us, right at the start of our lives, that we are dying. Then we might live life to the limit, every minute of every day. Do it! I say. Whatever you want to do, do it now! There are only so many tomorrows.
-Pope Paul VI

This past year, I have attended more funerals of people I know and love than I had attended in the past decade. I am always amazed at how thoughts of death and mortality become so real to me when I am faced with the death of someone I love. The part that amazes me most […]

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

Contentment and satisfaction are built on the ability to see the miracle in everything, and that ability is built on gratitude. No matter what life’s circumstances, there are opportunities every moment to be grateful, and there are opportunities for discontentment. We have the freedom to choose between them by choosing what we focus on.
Focusing or […]

The belief that there is only one truth, and that oneself is in possession of it, is the root of all evil in the world.
-Max Born

Glacier National Park in Montana.
Belief is Not Knowledge
Although I have chosen to follow the Christian religion, and I believe strongly in the existence of Jesus Christ, I know that belief is different than knowledge.
I do not know for certain that my understanding of God, life and death are as I believe them to be. I […]

We could say that meditation doesn't have a reason or doesn't have a purpose. In this respect it's unlike almost all other things we do except perhaps making music and dancing. When we make music we don't do it in order to reach a certain point, such as the end of the composition. If that were the purpose of music then obviously the fastest players would be the best. Also, when we are dancing we are not aiming to arrive at a particular place on the floor as in a journey. When we dance, the journey itself is the point, as when we play music the playing itself is the point. And exactly the same thing is true in meditation. Meditation is the discovery that the point of life is always arrived at in the immediate moment.
-Alan Watts

Meditation is the Holy Grail of inspiration. It can bring peace, wisdom, awareness, stress relief, spiritual growth, connection to God’s will, intuition, purpose, improved physical health, pain management, intelligence and even increased metabolism.
There are countless methods of meditation varying from those which aim to achieve complete lack of conscious thought to those which focus on […]

Listening, not imitation, may be the sincerest form of flattery.
-Joyce Brothers

Poor Listening Leads To Isolation and Lack Of Inspiration
For many of us, it is a challenge to listen to another person without formulating our own response. We seem to believe that our value to another person will increase if we can say something impressive. Though focusing on talking rather than listening leads to the following:

interrupting […]

The greatest obstacle to discovery is not ignorance - it is the illusion of knowledge.
-Daniel J Boorstin

Recognize Your Ignorance and Find Wisdom

View from a ridge in Mount Diablo State Park in California.
The recognition of the limitations in our knowledge is essential in gaining wisdom. This recognition is the deciding factor between growing old, bitter and stubborn or becoming brilliant and wise in our later years. Gaining wisdom with age is […]