If you missed all the great wisdom in the last two posts, you’ll find them here:
January-April Calendar
May-August Calendar
You now have an entire year of inspiring, encouraging, and motivating words. My prayer is that you will feel a little spark of hope in whatever circumstances you find yourself in. However, as I well know, life can deal us some serious blows, as I wrote about here and here. If you’re a frazzled mother, dealing with a major illness, or simply a caretaker of someone who is, it can be difficult to find the joy in each day. Try to make time for yourself, get some exercise, and write out your feelings in a journal to release and make sense of them. These are some things that have helped me over several bumps in the road.
And please don’t hesitate to reach out for help if you need it. God put us here on this earth to help one another. You might also want to check out these 100 Positive Thinking Exercises that will make anyone healthier and happier. Hey, and if you become a happier person, you might make someone else happy, too!
September
- Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great. ~Mark TwainClick To Tweet
Beauty is the gift of God. ~Aristotle
The big question is whether you are going to be able to say a hearty yes to your adventure. ~Joseph Campbell
If you have knowledge, let others light their candles at it.
Let others have the glory.
Commit your plans to the Lord and your plans will be established. ~Proverbs 16:3
The fountain of content must spring up in the mind; and he who has so little knowledge of human nature as to see his happiness by changing anything but his own disposition, will waste his life in fruitless efforts, and multiply the griefs which he proposes to remove. ~Samuel Johnson
Learn to live in the present moment.
Do not wait for extraordinary circumstances to do good; try to use ordinary situations.
We are all pencils in the hand of God. ~Mother Teresa
Tell him to live by yes and no—yes to everything good, no to everything bad.
~William James- I loaf and invite my soul. ~Walt WhitmanClick To Tweet
The first point of wisdom is to know the truth; the second, to discern what is false!
Faith, Hope, Love. You need all of the above. ~Kristine Kirsten
Ah, but in such matters it is only the first step that is difficult. ~Madame Du Deffand
Have you had a kindness shown? Pass it on.
There comes that mysterious meeting in life when someone acknowledges who we are and what we can be, igniting the circuits of our highest potential. ~Rusty Berkus
I’d like to go climbing a birch tree…~Robert Frost
Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. ~Hebrews 10:23
Compassion for myself is the most powerful healer of them all.
~Theodore Isaac Rubin, M.D.Just about the time you think you can make both ends meet, somebody moves the ends.
The meaning of things lies not in the things themselves, but in our attitude towards them. ~Antoikne De Saint-Exupery
Be the first one to act loving or reach out.
She opens her arms to the poor and extends her hands to the needy.
~Proverbs 31:20 (NIV)The time of the singing of birds is come…Song of Solomon
The dedicated life is the life worth living. ~Annie Dillard
The best thing about the future is that it comes only one day at a time.
~Abraham LincolnForget injuries; never forget kindness.
Many blessings are given to those who trust the Lord. ~Psalm 40:4 TLB
- Some people come into our lives and quickly go. Some stay for a while and leave footprints on our hearts and we are never, ever the same. ~AnonymousClick To Tweet
October
- Beauty does not come with creams and lotions. God can give us beauty, but whether that beauty remains or changes is determined by our thoughts and deeds. ~Delores Del RioClick To Tweet
Lower your tolerance to stress.
Don’t mind anything that anyone tells you about anyone else. Judge everyone and everything for yourself.
It is more blessed to give than to receive. ~Acts 20:35 NCV
People are always blaming their circumstances for what they are. I don’t believe in circumstances. The people who get on in this world are the people who get up and look for the circumstances they want, and, if they can’t find them, make them. ~George Bernard Shaw
Peform every act in life as though it were your last. ~Marcus Aurelius
There is no limit to how much good you can do if you don’t care who gets the credit.
Use no hurtful deceit; think innocently and justly and if you speak, speak accordingly. ~Benjamin Franklin
We are lovers of beauty without extravagance, and lovers of wisdom…~Thucydides
A thousand words will not leave so deep an impression as one deed ~Henrik Ibsen
Reaching out to others, being outgoing—being kind, gentle and thoughtful—these qualities require great sensitivity and daring. The more we forget about our own ego, the more open we are to love.
Spend a moment every day thinking of someone to thank.
The bravest are the tenderest—The loving are the daring. ~Bayard Taylor
Labor to keep alive in your breast that spark of celestial fire called conscience.
~George WashingtonThere’s no such thing as chance. ~Henry Ford
Conduct yourselves wisely toward outsiders, making the most of the time.
~Colossians 4:5- Did you know that secret? The awful thing is that beauty is mysterious. ~Fyodor Mikhaylovich DostoyevskyClick To Tweet
If a man hasn’t discovered something that he will die for, he isn’t fit to live.
~Martin Luther King, Jr.It is the greatest of all mistakes to do nothing because you can do only a little. Do what you can.
The wonder of lviing is held within the beauty of silence, the glory of sunlight…the sweetness of fresh spring air, the quiet strength of earth, and the love that lies at the very root of all things.
When a man blames others for his failures, it’s a good idea to credit others for his successes. ~Howard W. Newton
Seek first to understand.
Keep your eyes on the stars, and your feet on the ground.
The best thoughts often come in the morning after waking, while still in bed or while walking. ~Leo Tolstoy
I have been a selfish being all my life, in practice, though not in principle. ~Jane Austen
The price of greatness is responsibility. ~Sir Winston Churchill
- Grow old with me! The best is yet to be. The last of life, for which the first was made. ~Robert BrowningClick To Tweet
Don’t part company with your ideals. They are anchors in the storm.
Praise the Lord. How good is it to sing praises to our God, how pleasant and fitting to praise him!…He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.
~Psalm 147:1,3 (NIV)You can if you think you can. ~George Reeves
Nothing is worth more than this day. ~Goethe
November
- To cultivate kindness is a valuable part of the business of life. ~Samuel Johnson
In dreams begins responsibility. ~William Butler Yeats
We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools.
- That best portion of a good man's life, his little, nameless, unremembered acts of kindness and of love. ~William WordsworthClick To Tweet
Abiding love surrounds those who trust in the Lord. ~Psalm 32:10 TLB
It is only when we forget all our learning that we begin to know. ~Henry David Thoreau
Mae West: For a long time I was ashamed of the way I lived. “Did you reform?” Mae West: I’m not ashamed anymore.
Let us not look back in anger or forward in fear, but around in awareness.
Become a better listener.
Life is what we make it, always has been, always will be. ~Grandma Moses
Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. ~Luke 6:31 (NIV)
Life teaches us to be less harsh with ourselves and with others. ~Goethe
Man must evolve for all human conflict a method that rejects revenge, aggression and retaliation. The foundation of such a method is love. ~Martin Luther King, Jr.
Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson
Hating people is like burning down your own house to get rid of a rat.
~Harry Emerson FosdickAll serious daring starts from within. ~Eudora Welty
Humor is a prelude to faith and laughter is the beginning of prayer. ~Reinhold Niebuhr
- Yes, as my swift days near their goal, 'Tis all that I implore: In life and death a chainless soul, With courage to endure. ~Emily BronteClick To Tweet
Love is the root of all virtues.
Become aware of your moods and don’t allow yourself to be fooled by the low ones.
To have taste or discernment requires a capacity for thinking things through to the bottom…~Lin Yutang
When I think upon my God, my heart is so full of joy that the notes dance and leap from my pen. ~Franz Josef Haydn
Alas, I know if I ever became truly humble, I would be proud of it. ~Benjamin Franklin
Whatever is worth doing at all is worth doing well. ~Lord Chesterfield
Make happy those who are near, and those who are far will come.
- Let us not judge one another anymore, but rather resolve this, not to put a stumbling block or a cause to fall in our brother's way. ~Romans 14:13 (NKJV)Click To Tweet
Ah, but a man’s reach should exceed his grasp, Or what’s a heaven for?
~Robert BrowningLet go of the idea that gentle, relaxed people can’t be superachievers.
Make haste slowly. ~Caesar Augustus
Colors are the smiles of nature…they are her laughs, as in flowers. ~Leigh Hunt
December
Blessed are the hard-of-hearing for they miss much small talk.
Come forth into the light of things, Let nature be your teacher. ~William Wordsworth
- There are hundreds of languages in the world, but a smile speaks all of them.Click To Tweet
No thing is created suddenly, any more than a bunch of grapes or a fig. If you tell me that you desire a fig, I answer you that there must be time. Let is first blossom, then bear fruit, then ripen. ~Epictetus 50-135 A.D.
Dear God, I pray for patience, and I want it right now! ~Oren Arnold
Cherish all your happy moments: they make a fine cushion for old age.
God loves each one of us as if there were only one of us. ~Augustine
To get where you want to go, you must keep on keeping on. ~Norman Vincent Peale
A merry heart does good, like medicine, but a broken spirit dries the bones.
~Proverbs 17:22 (NKJV)Paradise is where I am. ~Voltaire
Grace was in all her steps, Heaven in her eyes, In every gesture dignity and love. ~John Milton
- Thinking to get at once all the gold the goose could give, he killed it and opened it only to find—nothing. ~AesopClick To Tweet
Develop your compassion.
What we have to learn to do, we learn by doing. ~Aristotle
There are two ways of spreading light: to be the candle or the mirror that reflects it.
~Edith WhartonMemories are perhaps the best gifts of all. ~Gloria Gaither
The bluebird carries the sky on his back. ~Henry David Thoreau
It is not enough to have a good mind. The main thing is to use it well. ~Rene Descartes
Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up. ~James 4:10 (KJV)
It is one of the most beautiful compensations of this life that no man can sincerely try to help another without helping himself. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson
I have realized that the past and the future are real illusions, that they exist only in the present, which is what there is and all that there is. ~Alan Watts
One word frees us from all the weight and pain of life: That word is love.
~Sophocles 406 B.C.You never know what is enough unless you know what is more than enough.
~William BlakeBeauty as we feel it is something indescribable: What it is or what it means can never be said. ~George Santayana
Once a week, write a heartfelt letter.
It’s good to be just plain happy; it’s a little better to know that you’re happy; but to understand that you’re happy and to know what and how…and still be happy, be happy in the being and the knowing, well that is beyond happiness, that is bliss.
~Henry Miller.- There are always two choices, two paths to take. One is easy. And its only reward is that it's easy. ~AnonymousClick To Tweet
You do not have, because you do not ask. ~James 4:2
Never be afraid to trust an unknown future to an all-knowing God. ~Corrie Ten Boom
Ideas come from everywhere. ~Alfred Hitchcock
But all shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well.
~Dame Julian of Norwich
I’d love to hear from you! What part of the year do you look forward to most?
Penelope Silvers is a freelance writer, author,
and radio host of Penelope’s Book Chat on Blog
Talk Radio. She lives simply and sanely on Florida’s
beautiful nature coast.