Inspirational Living: Life Lessons for Success, Happiness, Motivation, Spiritual Growth, Self-Help & Positive Thinking

Listen to episode 91 of the Inspirational Living podcast: The Road to Character Building & The Law of Reciprocity. Edited and adapted from The Rhythm of Life by Charles Brodie Patterson. Podcast Excerpt: Everything in life depends upon the great law of reciprocity, of giving and receiving. We give of our possessions, and through doing this enter into larger possessions. Nature exacts of us no indiscriminate giving, but a wise, orderly, benevolent giving that considers both the object and the end of the giving. There is a wise way of doing everything, and if that way is known and followed, we get the best results. The body is strengthened and renewed when the mind chooses exercise of a normal, natural kind to strengthen alike all parts of the body. In this way, the health of the body is being worked out, and it is being saved from weakness, pain, or disease. That which holds good as regards the body, holds good in a larger way concerning the mind. The weak or negative minded person need never hope to develop a strong, vigorous mind, as long as they continue to allow their mind to dwell upon the negative things of life. If we would bring strength out of our weaknesses, it must come from a continuous effort toward clear, concise, positive thinking. Strength of mind can only come through a concentrated use of the mind. Mental work is as necessary for the strengthening of the mind as physical work is for the body.

Listen to episode 90 of the Inspirational Living podcast: How to Be a Gentleman & Lady. Edited and adapted from The Man Who Pleases and The Woman Who Fascinates by John Albert Cone. Inspirational Podcast Excerpt: It is almost the definition of a gentleman and lady to say that they are ones who never inflict pain. They carefully avoid whatever may cause a jar or a jolt in the minds of those with whom they are with, keeping an eye on the sensibilities of all their company. They are tender toward the bashful, gentle toward the distant, and merciful toward the absurd. They avoid unreasonable allusions on topics which may irritate; they are seldom prominent in conversation, and never wearisome. Another delightful trait of the true lady and gentleman is that they make light of favors when they bestow them, and seem to be receiving when they are conferring. They never speak of themselves except when compelled, never defend themselves by a mere retort. They have no ears for slander or gossip; are scrupulous in imputing motives to those who interfere with them, and interprets everything for the best. They are never mean or small in their disputes, never insinuate evil which they dare not say out loud. They have too much good sense to be affronted by insults, and are too busy with enjoying life to remember injuries. They may be right or wrong in their opinions, but they are too clear-headed to be unjust.

Listen to episode 89 of the Inspirational Living podcast: Inspirational Life Lessons for Adults (Young & Old). Edited and adapted from Our Sunday Talks by James J. Owen. Self-Help Podcast Excerpt: The materialist may balk at talk of the soul — for they view the physical world as the all in all of the universe. They see reality only in those coarser forms of matter that appeal to the physical senses. In fact, they deny the existence of any and everything that their senses cannot grasp, forgetting that there may be keener senses than those of their own organism. We use the term "coarser forms of matter" because to the undeveloped mind, those are the only forms that make an impact upon the senses. But science is constantly unfolding new and imponderable forms of which the senses take no note. Traversing the field of matter, it enters a new and unexplored domain which seemingly lies outside the boundaries of matter. And here in a maze of subtle forces and forms, the unfolded mind is lost in wonder and reverence. We should therefore be modest in our denial or rejection of what we do not know to be true. Comparatively speaking, there is very little that we can know of anything save the simplest rudiments. Whoever dogmatically asserts that a thing is NOT so, because they do not KNOW it to be so, simply advertises their ignorance to the world — and that goes for scientists as well as religious preachers. ---------------- Sleep better and more peacefully the whole night through. Visit today's sponsor Ettitude (makers of fine organic bedding and accessories) at the following link: Inspirational Sleep.

Listen to episode 88 of the Inspirational Living podcast: Simple Life Habits & Cultivating Joy. Edited and adapted from The Simple Life by Charles Wagner. Inspirational Podcast Excerpt: Wherever life is simple and sane, true pleasure accompanies it as fragrance does uncultivated flowers. Even when this life hard, hampered, devoid of all things ordinarily considered as the very conditions of pleasure, the rare and delicate plant, joy, flourishes there. It springs up between the flags of the pavement, on an arid wall, in the fissure of a rock. We ask ourselves how it comes, and whence: but it lives. No one seems to doubt the immense human interest attached to joy. It is a sacred flame that must be fed, and it throws a splendid radiance over life. The individual who takes pains to foster it accomplishes a work as profitable for humanity as those who build bridges, pierce tunnels, invent technology, or cultivate the ground. To order one’s life so as to keep (amid toils and suffering) the faculty of happiness, and be able to propagate it in a sort of salutary contagion among one’s fellow citizens, is to do a work of fraternity in the noblest sense. To give a simple pleasure, smooth an anxious brow, bring a little light into dark paths, is truly a divine office in the midst of this poor humanity. But it is only in great simplicity of heart that one succeeds in fulfilling it. ---------------- Sleep better and more peacefully the whole night through. Visit today's sponsor Ettitude (makers of fine organic bedding and accessories) at the following link: Inspirational Sleep.

Listen to episode 87 of the Inspirational Living podcast: The Importance of Poetry, Wanderlust & Nature. Edited and adapted from Life's Enthusiasms by David Starr Jordan, founding president of Stanford University. Motivational Podcast Excerpt: It may be true that those who wander widest, lift no more of beauty's jealous veils than those who from their doorway see the miracle of flowers and trees. However, it is also true that the experiences of the traveler cover a wider range and fill their mind with a larger and more varied store of remembered delights. The very names of beloved regions call up each one its own picture. The South Seas: to have wandered among their green isles is to have seen a new world, a new heaven and a new earth. The white reef with its whiter rim of plunging surf, the swaying palms, the flashing waterfall, the joyous people, and above all the volcanic mountains, green fringed with huge trees, with tree ferns and palms, the whole tied together into an impenetrable jungle. The Sierra Nevada, sweeping in majestic waves of stone, alive with color and steeped in sunshine. Switzerland, India, Norway, Alaska, Japan, Venice, the Caribbean Islands. Even now as I write, they rise before me an endless series of pictures, magnificent in effect, in form and color. ---------------- Sleep better and more peacefully the whole night through. Visit today's sponsor Ettitude (makers of fine organic bedding and accessories) at the following link: Inspirational Sleep.

Listen to episode 86 of the Inspirational Living podcast: How to Meditate & Visualize. Edited and adapted from The Key to Health, Wealth & Love by Julia Seton. Self-Help Podcast Transcript: At some time or another in our lives, we all come to a place where two or more paths open up for us, and we stand at the cross-roads undecided which way to go. There is no friend near to whom we can seek advice. It is here, that the person who has developed the power of meditation (of inner communion), can rest awhile and find within themselves the solution to all difficulties. This inner adviser has been called "The still small voice,” "Our Higher Self,” and many other symbolical terms which have served their purpose to awaken the mind to the existence of an inner consciousness. But whatever we name it, it is that guidance we gain when we can control our objective senses and link our mind with the Universal storehouse of knowledge. This Infinite source is the place where all may, if they will, become at one with such knowledge and wisdom as can only be dimly glimpsed in the terms of human language. Here is the source of all wisdom ever sung, written, or spoken by the world's sages of all time, and there is no deeper source. Higher than this no mind can go. ---------------- Visit today's sponsor Ettitude (makers of fine organic bedding and accessories) at the following link: Inspirational Sleep.

Listen to episode 85 of the Inspirational Living podcast: Modern Manners & The Power of Courtesy (Etiquette). Edited and adapted from How to be Happy Though Civil by E.J. Hardy. Inspirational Podcast Excerpt: The two chief rules for manners are, first: think of others; and second: do not think of yourself. And these cannot be carried out without sympathy. We must be able to go out of ourselves and realize the feelings and circumstances of another if we would confer pleasure and avoid inflicting pain. It is want of sympathy which constitutes the hard individual---the one who (without committing anything that might be called a fault) rides roughly over the most sensitive feelings of your nature. Good manners is the art of putting our associates at ease. Whoever makes the fewest persons uncomfortable is the best-mannered person in a room, and also the most tactful. Most of us have a notion of what tact is, but it is difficult to define it. The word is derived from the Latin for "to touch.” Tact is the (quote) “touch faculty of body and soul.” It enables its possessor to get into touch with people and to gain an influence over them. Tact, or savoir faire, is a tenth muse, more inspiring than any of the nine. As an insidious gentle sunshine makes us take off our great-coat sooner than a blustering north wind, so tact is more efficacious than other forces which seem to be stronger. ---------------- Visit today's sponsor Ettitude (makers of fine organic bedding and accessories) at the following link: Inspirational Sleep.

Listen to episode 84 of the Inspirational Living podcast: How to Look Younger (Anti-Aging Tips to Stop the Clock). Edited and adapted from Turn Back the Years by Harry J. Gardener. Motivational Podcast Excerpt: We see a thousand advertisements heralding the joy of youth. We see the millions of people the world over doing everything they can to achieve youth, to maintain it, or merely to hold the youth they already possess. But because this world is a place of quick reaction and rapid motion, most of us overlook the most essential elements of remaining young. We pass them by hurriedly in our rush to the nearest and more obvious methods of relief. Youth is not a quality that can be purchased with cosmetics or at the corner drug store. Youth cannot be had for love or for money. If most human beings only knew it, the actual price of youth is the lowest of any "bargain" in all the markets of the world. The purchase price is merely self- analysis and self-change. Why then, one asks, is youth so often missed, so often hungrily yearned for, when it can be so easily obtained? Well, the fault lies in the state of mind of this age — the hurry, the pell-mell rush for success and a thousand other goals. The purpose of today’s talk is therefore to make you stop and think. For intelligent, concentrated thought, and consideration of one's self are the finest helps obtainable. ---------------- Visit today's sponsor Ettitude (makers of fine organic bedding and accessories) at the following link: Inspirational Sleep.

Listen to episode 83 of the Inspirational Living podcast: Karma Yoga & The Goal of Life. Edited and adapted from a lecture by Swami Vivekananda. Spirituality Podcast Excerpt: The word Karma is derived from the Sanskrit "Kri”, meaning to do. Everything that is done is Karma. Technically, the word Karma also means the effects of actions. In connection with metaphysics, it sometimes means the effects of which our past actions were the causes. But in Karma Yoga, the word ''Karma" simply means work. The goal of all human-kind is knowledge. That is the one ideal placed before us by Eastern philosophy. Pleasure is not the ultimate goal, but knowledge. Pleasure and happiness come to an end. The cause of all the miseries we have in the world is that we foolishly think pleasure to be the ideal — but after a time, we find that it is not happiness but knowledge towards where we are going, and that both pleasure and pain are great teachers, that we learn as much from evil as from good. As pleasure and pain pass before our soul, they leave upon it different pictures, and the result of these combined impressions is what is called our ''character." If you study the character of any person, what is it really but the tendencies, the sum total of the bent of his or her mind? ---------------- Visit today's sponsor Ettitude (makers of fine organic bedding and accessories) at the following link: Inspirational Sleep.

Listen to episode 82 of the Inspirational Living podcast: Success on the Job: Pathfinder to Being the Best You Can Be. Edited and adapted from Up and Doing by C. P. McDonald. Motivational Podcast Excerpt: Try enthusiasm on your job. It is the greatest of all pre-requisites of Success. It leads to better things — to the coveted, attainable prizes we strive for. It is enthusiasm that makes us win — achieve — advance — become doers — take the initiative — the bold play. It makes the gray day a good day — the dull day a happy day. It points the way to opportunity — of fresh, new inspiration. Enthusiasm makes the present beginner a future winner. It forces us to move from a groove — to take heart and start all over. It gives us the soul to win the goal — the chance to play the leading role. Those who walk hand-in-hand with enthusiasm, land with enthusiasm on the top rung with the victors. Without enthusiasm, we simply fill in — hold down a job momentarily and then — oblivion. Enthusiasm makes the shirker a worker — a performer of big things — an accomplisher of deeds. It makes for efficiency — and gives a fund of good fortune which the failure mistakes for luck.... ---------------- Visit today's sponsor Ettitude (makers of fine organic bedding and accessories) at the following link: Inspirational Sleep.

Listen to episode 81 of the Inspirational Living podcast: How to Sleep Well. Edited and adapted from Peace, Power, and Plenty by Orison Swett Marden. Inspirational Podcast Excerpt: Never allow yourself, under any circumstances, to retire in a discouraged, despondent, gloomy mood, or in a fit of temper. Never lie down with a frown on your brow; with a perplexed, troubled expression on your face. Smooth out the wrinkles; drive away grudges, jealousies, all the enemies of your peace of mind. Let nothing tempt you to go to sleep with an unkind, critical, jealous thought toward another person. It is bad enough to feel unkindly toward others when under severe provocation, or when in a hot temper, but you cannot afford to deliberately continue this state of mind after the provocation has stopped and thus spoil your sleep. You cannot afford the wear and tear. It takes too much out of you. Life is too short, time too precious to spend any part of it in unprofitable, health-wrecking, soul-racking thoughts. Be at peace with all the world at least once in every twenty-four hours. You cannot afford to allow the enemies of your happiness to etch their miserable images deeper and deeper into your character as you sleep. Erase them all. Start every night with a clean slate... ---------------- Today's podcast is sponsored by Ettitude, makers of fine organic bedding and accessories. Visit them online at the following link: Inspirational Sleep.

Listen to episode 80 of the Inspirational Living podcast: Do Your Best & Love Much. Edited and adapted from The Pathway of Roses by Christian D. Larson. Spiritual Podcast Excerpt: We have looked far and wide for the remedies to our problems, but in our search we have overlooked one of the greatest of all; and that is love. Not the love of the person; not mere sentiment or emotion, but that strong, spiritual feeling that makes every atom in your being thrill with the purest sympathy and the highest kindness; and that makes you feel that every creature in existence deserves your most tender care and attention. When everything goes wrong with us, we blame fate, environment, or the world. We forget that the world does to us what we have done to the world. When we blame the world for everything, the world will so act that it is to blame; but when we love the entire world with our whole heart, the world will change toward us accordingly and be kind. When you do not succeed, when no one seems to care for your service, or for your talents, there are two things to do: do your best and love much.

Listen to episode 79 of the Inspirational Living podcast: The Healthy Benefits of Aging (Aging Well with Grace). Edited and adapted from Essays of an Optimist by John William Kaye. Inspirational Podcast Excerpt: One of the great advantages of age is that we are not wont to disturb ourselves by doing things that we do not like, simply for the look of the thing. There is absolute misery in pretentiousness of all kinds, and youth is infinitely more pretentious than age. There are some people who never outlive their vanity; but, as a general rule, it may be maintained that the longer we live, the less we care what others think of us, and the less we strive after effect. We learn, in time, how little we can ever know, and how ridiculous we make ourselves by pretending to know everything. When we have learned to say, "I am as ignorant as a child on this or that subject" or, "as powerless as a baby to do this or that thing," we have mastered one of the great difficulties of life; we have entered upon a new stage of our career....

Listen to episode 78 of the Inspirational Living podcast: Awaken the Sleeping Giant (The Power Within). Edited and adapted from New Thought Healing Made Plain by Kate Atkinson Boehme. Motivational Podcast Excerpt: The human being has always had many hitherto undiscovered powers, the horizon of the Impossible continually receding as we advance upon it. Let your limit line of belief, separating the possible from the impossible, be to you like the horizon line, which is really no line at all. It is merely where your sight stops, and depends upon the point where you stand. Advance and your horizon moves with you, showing a beyond not before visible. Someone else may tell you that your ideals are impossible to realize. This I also deny, for I know beyond all doubt that nothing is impossible that your mind can fashion or your heart long for. The impossible is only that which you fail to reach by stopping at the fatigue point because your mind is weary of waiting and hoping, and stops short of the ''Second Wind." Simply to know that higher levels of energy exist and can be tapped will stimulate you to go on and tap them. That has been my experience, and from what I know of universal human characteristics, I judge it will be your experience also....

Listen to episode 77 of the Inspirational Living podcast: The Bright Side of Life (Guide for a Rational Optimist). Edited and adapted from Character Building by Booker T. Washington. Educational Podcast Excerpt: If you want to be happy, if you want to live a contented life, if you want to live a life of genuine pleasure, do something for somebody else. When you feel unhappy, disagreeable, and miserable, go to someone else who is miserable and do that person an act of kindness, and you will find that you will be made happy. The miserable persons in this world are the ones whose hearts are narrow and hard; the happy ones are those who have great big hearts. Such persons are always happy. Now, this is not to say, you won’t have difficulties, nor face obstacles and discouragement. You most certainly will. But I would suggest to you that such difficulties, as an element in life, are for a purpose. I do not believe that anything, any element of your lives, is put there without a purpose. I believe that every effort that we are obliged to make to overcome obstacles gives us strength, and also a confidence in ourselves that nothing else can give us.