Start with the Heart
Robert H. Schuller

It's Your Life to Live
tom walsh

Creative Daring
Wilferd A. Peterson

Ten Principles to Live By
Louise Morganti Kaelin

Please feel free to contact us at info at livinglifefully.com (no spaces,
replace at with @), or on our feedback page.
Living Life Fully home - e-zine archives - Daily Meditations

Don't forget that you can receive an e-mail reminder each time
that our e-zine is published, a free e-mail of our daily quotations
and/or our weekly Digest.  Click here to learn more!

Plus, our new daily weblog is online at dailypickmeup.com!

There is wisdom in knowing how to play, to touch lightly, uninvolved and uncommitted, on what is pleasurable.

Aelred Graham

John Baillie

It's not enough to be right.  That's too little.  It's also important
to be strong.  The history of the world shows that more often people who were right lost than won.

Andrzej Milczanowski

Listen to me!  Listen to me--I'm your heart.  Why do you never dare to let me be free to become what I was born to become?  Your passionate power.  Why do you close the door to me when I laugh and cry?  When I sing my songs of hopes and hurts?  Why do you always want to control everything and everyone who touches you--even me!

I'm your heart.  There are mysterious, warm, refreshing, and renewing moods that I want to share with you!  Forceful, fortifying, friendly feelings live with me.  Why do you shut me out of your power plays?  Are you afraid that I'll embarrass you?  Or are you perhaps afraid that I'll upstage you?

I could and would be your best friend.  Be honest with me.  You don't need to be afraid to tell me if you're tired, bewildered, confused, or overwhelmed.  I'm the one and only friend you can trust with your secret dreams and your sad hurts--and even your vain ambitions.

Come to me.  Are you lost?  I can see another way from where I live.  The heart can see a path that's out of sight to the head--a path you'll surely overlook, left alone on your lofty perch up there, too distracted by your world to see the real world where I live.  I live on the level of laughter, tears, and--yes--prayer.

Believe me, if you remain alone--nothing but mental muscle--you'll lose heart; and if you do, you'll give up and fail.

You must know that you need me.  You're lost without the joy that I alone can give.

You're always so busy and in such a hurry that you never have time to sit alone with me.

When was the last time you "searched your heart"?  You always have time for your "friends."  You've made a lot of strong but strange and foreign acquaintances through the years, but will they prove to be your true friends at the end of the road?

Few (if any) of them know me.  You've never introduced them to me.  You listen to them without thinking what it means to me to be kept apart!  Oh, my head--open a door to me!

I'm your heart!

Go now to the secret drawer where you keep the extra keys, that drawer you haven't touched for years.  Inside is the key that will release the joyful tomorrows that only I can give you.  It's the key to our private place, where only the two of us can go.  Find it.  Open the door.  Turn and smile at me again.  Call for me to come to you.  Touch me.  Invite me to join you alone.  Here we'll listen to each other.  We'll love each other.  Laugh together.  Cry together.

Yes, we need each other.  What's power without comradeship?  What's success without spiritual fulfillment?  What's a head without a heart?

I have words you need to hear.  I have music to lift you from your loneliness.  Listen to me, my best one, my bright and wise one.  For too long you've been controlled by the loud sounds and the sirens on the fast road where you run every day.  The chaotic sounds confuse you.

You need a peaceful power that only I can give you.  Do you hear a soft sound now?  A distant voice?  A far-off melody?  What is it?  What have you been missing?  Who's out there--crowded out, pushed away in the wild scene where you've been living?  It's I--the silent spirit you haven't felt.

It's I.  I'm calling your name.  I'm your best friend.  I'm your heart calling out for you to welcome me back to your side, to fill your emptiness with the private power of my passionate presence.

Come!  Let us sing together a new song.  Here are the happy words by Santayana:

Oh world, thou choosest not the better part.
It is not wisdom to be only wise
and on the inward vision close the eyes
But it is wisdom to believe the heart.
Columbus found a world and had no chart.
Save one that faith deciphered in the skies.
To trust the soul's invincible surmise
was all his science and his only art.
Our knowledge is a torch of smokey pine
that lights the pathway, but one step ahead
across a void of mystery and dread.
Bid then the tender light of faith to shine
by which alone the mortal heart is led
into the thinking of the Thought Divine.

Listen to me, my honored one, for God lives within your heart.  Come to me.  Sense the Holy Spirit that fills this heart of yours.  Connect with me and come to love and listen to the God within you.
  
   

Addressing goals, priorities, planning, committment, timing and fortitude, Schuller's practical, upbeat lessons show readers how to ignite the "dynamic energy" that allows them to realize their opportunities for success, joy and fulfillment. Peppered with autobiographical anecdotes and the real-life success stories of people from every walk of life, If It's Going To Be, It's Up To Me is a profoundly inspirational vision of belief in action.

It's Your Life to Live

I love languages, and I love the ability we have to communicate simply by changing intonation.  I often look at sentences and think about the different implications involved in a simple shift in stress, a different way of pronouncing the same group of words.  The sentence that I'm using as a title to this column is one of the most important to me for quite a few reasons, no matter how we stress the words when we say it.

"It's YOUR life to live."  It's nobody else's life--we don't have to live to please others or to meet the expectations of others.  It's nice to want to meet those expectations sometimes, especially when we recognize that meeting them is in our own best interests, but we certainly aren't obligated to do so.  This is my life, and I have to do the things that I feel are right and best for me and for the people for whom I've freely accepted responsibility.  

For example, I have a wife and step-children, so I can't quit my job and go spend a year in the Grand Canyon, no matter how appealing that idea may be.  But even in the context of the family, I still must do what I feel is right and best for me.  In this case, I've accepted full responsibility for contributing to the well-being and support of my family, and it's in my best interests to live up to that responsibility and keep my word, for that's the type of person I am.  I can't pack up and go, nor do I wish to do so.

No matter what anyone else tries to convince me to do--enter this business, take this job, take these classes--I have to stay true to my vision of life and my conscience.  And since I'm fully aware of the implications of this way of being, I can't ask anyone else to do anything in their lives just because I think they should do it, or because I think it's what's best for them.  I have to tell them what I think and then back off and let go of all expectations, trusting that they'll do what's best or at least learn from mistakes.

"It's your LIFE to live."  You've heard it before--this isn't a dress rehearsal.  This isn't even opening night, with many more performances in the future.  This is the real thing, every minute of every day.  It's your LIFE.  It's an awe-inspiring thought for me--we've been given this wonderful gift of life, and we're living it every day, if we choose to do so.

We've all been given a wonderful opportunity to shape and craft this life we've been given into something useful, artistic, helpful, loving, magnificent.  But most of us get caught up in tasks--things to do and people to see and deadlines and contracts.  We forget to keep in mind that if we choose to do so, we can spend some of our time learning about LIFE, learning how to create a happy life with love and peace and hope.  I heard a wonderful short story on a tape program that I have--a preacher was driving on a country road when he came upon a beautiful small farm--tall rows of corn, produce gardens, a beautiful house--everything you could imagine in a small farm.  Spying the farmer, he approached him and exclaimed, "What a beautiful piece of land you have here!  God definitely has blessed you with a wonderful farm and a bountiful harvest!"  The farmer looked around himself and said, "Yes, I definitely am blessed with what I have, but you should have seen this piece of land when God had it to himself!"

"It's your life to LIVE."  A frightening thought--the absence of life in an organism that's been alive is death.  If you're not living, if there's an absence of life in your day-to-day routines, does that mean that you're dead?  In the film Harold and Maude, Maude, a 79-year-old woman who lives her life as fully as possible, tells Harold, an 18-year-old who's obsessed with death, that "A lot of people enjoy being dead.  But they're not dead really--they're just backing away from life."

Are you living your life, or are you existing?  Have you ever sat down and written out your goals and then worked to try to attain them, or do you just hang around and wait to see what each day will bring you?  Do you come home and do stuff you love to do, or do you just turn on the television set and let it "entertain" you while you sit there passive, not moving forward or adding to the value of your life?  Or are you so caught up in your 70-hour-a-week work life that there's no time for reading to your kids, for taking walks with your family, for writing letters to loved ones, for working on the hobby that you love so much but which you've been neglecting for so long?

It's YOUR LIFE to LIVE.  It's a beautiful thought, one full of awesome and glorious potential!

Creative Daring
Wilferd A. Peterson

When I go to a circus, I am thrilled most by the aerialists. . . those daring flyers who swing high on a trapeze and then launch themselves into space to be caught by another aerialist hanging by his or her knees on an opposite trapeze.  Recently, I watched a man who is said to be the first person ever to successfully make a triple somersault and a twist as he flew through the air to the catcher on the other trapeze!

Circus acrobats are always daring to do something different; they have the courage to attempt the impossible.  The creative adventure of their lives is to do something in their particular profession that has never been done before--and then to keep doing it!  If a flyer misses their catcher and falls to the net below, or if they fail in a new trick, they don't give up.  If they're really good, they climb up the rope ladder to the platform, take off into the air, and try again!

What can creative people learn from this?  How about more somersaults and twists in your thinking?  How about taking a perilous flight through mental space by doing some different thinking?  How about standing on your head and seeing the world from a new angle?  How about trying to think of something that has never been thought of before?  It may be difficult, but it can also be simple.  A good example is that of the man who took a piece of plain wire and twisted it into a paperclip.  How many billions of those do you think have been sold?

Today's world needs change, alteration, renewal, and corrections of errors.  It needs new ideas, new approaches, and new ways of doing things.  Maybe you should think of going--literally or symbolically--to a circus today, where you'll see stunts you never dreamed possible.  The novelty and originality there may stimulate what you need more of in this life.  Have the daring to take a flight for the idea you believe in!

Many years ago, inspired by Steven Covey's "7 Habits of Highly Effective People" I created a personal mission statement.  In order to fulfill that mission, I also developed a set of 'Operating Principles'.  I think of these operating principles as the yardsticks by which I know how closely I am living that mission.  Although these are very personal, I choose to share them hoping to inspire you to develop your own.

1.  I Recognize God in Everyone
I unconditionally love and accept others, and in so doing I unconditionally love and accept God and myself.  I respect, without judgment or reservation, the beliefs and decisions of others as well as their right to those beliefs and decisions.

2.  I Walk What I Talk
All of my actions are in harmony with my innermost beliefs and values.  I keep all commitments I make to myself and others.

3.  I Seek Excellence in All I Do
I approach every aspect of my life with the sincere desire to do the very best I can, using the appropriate combination of skills, talents and resources to produce superior results.

4.  I Inspire through Example
I use all of the love, talent and wisdom within me to maximize my potential and to experience life as a rich tapestry, full of love, joy, wonder, abundance and mystery.

5.  I Empower through Love
I use all the love, talent and wisdom within me to serve others by helping them uncover the wisdom, strength and power within themselves. I give each person what they need in whatever form they are most comfortable receiving it.  I am able to impact every-larger groups of people while maintaining time and space for me.

6.  I Alone Am Responsible for My Life
I gracefully accept the responsibility for everything present in my life today and graciously claim the power to create everything in my life tomorrow.  I employ my imagination, conscience, independent will and self-awareness to create a joyful, harmonious and integrated life.  I recognize my greatest power as being the freedom to choose, in every
situation.  I consciously, proactively determine the best alternative and most appropriate response, basing my decisions on conscience educated by principles.

7.  I Embrace the Journey
I interpret all of life's experiences as opportunities for learning, growth and contribution. I choose to move without faltering on an upward spiral of growth and change, improving continuously.  I desire at all times to be free of limitation.

8.  I Honor My Spiritual Self
I am a clear and open channel for God's divine peace, love and light.  I carry the inner peace of being connected to God's abundance and energy into every moment of my life.

9.  I Honor My Physical Self
I am a radiant expression of God.  I am perfectly attuned to the needs of my body and joyously respond to those needs. I nurture myself with healthy food, rest, exercise and relaxation.  My life is full of grace, comfort and
cleanliness.  I enjoy financial security.  I recognize that material abundance is a manifestation of the richness of my true self and does not represent a choice between having and being.

10.  I Honor My Emotional Self
In all relationships, I freely give and graciously receive love, nurturing and support.  Honesty is the cornerstone of all my relationships.  I enjoy a
warm, loving relationship with a principle- centered person who cherishes me.  Our relationship is based on sharing, and choosing to share, our lives, our time and our space with each other.

11.  I Honor My Mental Self
I seek to constantly expand my knowledge and awareness of life by regular exposure to new thoughts, ideas, people and places.  I explore the world, joyously and without fear.

Louise Morganti Kaelin is a Life Success Coach who partners with others to help them turn their dreams into reality. Phone: 1-617-984-2868 Email: louise@touchpointcoaching.com
Web: http://touchpointcoaching.com While you're there, register to win a free month of coaching.

Back of every noble life there are principles that have fashioned it.

George Lorimer

Living Life Fully, the e-zine
exists to provide for visitors of the world wide web a place
of growth, peace, inspiration, and encouragement.  Our articles
are presented as thoughts of the authors--by no means do we
mean to present them as ways that anyone has to live life.  Take
from them what you will, and disagree with whatever you disagree
with--just know that they'll be here for you each week.

Free wallpaper!

To get your image, just click on the right size
for your screen set-up; once the picture comes
up, right-click, then click "set as wallpaper."  Then hit your browser's "back" button to return here.

To find out which size you need, go to your
control panel, then "display."  You'll see your
screen resolution in the lower-right corner
(you can change it there, too).

All contents ©Living Life Fully™, all rights reserved.
Livinglifefully.com is trademarked SM, all rights reserved..
Please feel free to re-use material from this site other than copyrighted articles--
contact each author for permission to use those.  If you use material, it would be
greatly appreciated if you would provide credit and a link back to the original
source, and let us know where the material is published.  Thank you.