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

Listen to episode 211 of the Inspirational Living podcast: The Power of Integrity | The Courage to Stand Tall. Edited and adapted from The Eight Pillars of Prosperity by James Allen. Inspirational Podcast Excerpt: There is no striking a cheap bargain with prosperity. It must be purchased, not only with intelligent labor, but with moral force. As the soap bubble cannot endure, so the fraud cannot prosper. Nothing is ever gained, ever can be gained, by fraud — it is but seized for a time, to be again returned with heavy interest. The person who courts prosperity must, in all their transactions, whether material or mental, study how to give a just return for that which they receive. This is the great fundamental principle in all sound commerce, while in spiritual things it becomes the doing to others that which we would have them do to us — and applied to the forces of the universe, it is scientifically stated in the formula, “Action and Reaction are equal.” Human life is reciprocal, not rapacious, and people who regard all others as their legitimate prey will soon find themselves stranded in the desert of ruin, far away from the path of prosperity. Their efforts are destructive, and not constructive, and they thereby destroy themselves. Without integrity, energy and efficiency will at last fail, but aided by integrity, their strength will be greatly augmented. There is no occasion in life in which the moral factor does not play an important part. Sterling integrity tells wherever it is, and stamps its hallmark on all transactions. For a limted time, get 30% off our new hardcover book Everest (50 Motivational Life Lessons), as well as last year's best-seller Evergreen (50 Inspirational Life Lessons). Use the coupon code: LIVINGHOUR30. Learn more at our book website: InspirationalLifeLessons.com. Use the coupon code also to get 30% off any book that YOU create with Blurb, our book manufacturer. Create superb quality photography books, trade paperpacks, and more. Visit them at Blurb.com.

Listen to episode 210 of the Inspirational Living podcast: Why Was I Born? Existential Questions & Answers. Edited and adapted from Adventures in Common Sense by Dr. Frank Crane. Spiritual Growth Podcast Excerpt: There is one question upon whose answer rests the success or failure of life. It is the question: "Why was I born?" A strange fact is that nobody knows the answer. The purpose which the Creator had in mind when it made me and you has never been known, never will be known. Curious that the most fateful of all problems should be forever unanswerable! We may Believe this or that to be the reason why we were created; but we cannot Know. Notwithstanding this fact, the net result of my life depends upon The Theory I form to answer this query. But how can I tell which theory is best when there is no means of knowing which one is true? Well, there is a way to tell which theory is, if not true, at least approximately true. This way is suggested by what is called Pragmatism. That is to say: The answer most likely to be true is the one Which Will Work. We cannot answer the question "Why was I born?" by investigating Causes. The secrets of life are beyond us. The Creator will not be interviewed. But we can select an answer by noting Results. For instance, you might say, "I was made in order that I might get all the pleasure possible out of life." But this solution means wreckage. Its fallacy is proved by the addictions, madness, adulteries, and heart-breaks that constantly attend the end of the pleasure seeker. How about: "I was made in order that I might escape this evil world and get safely into a better one after death." Such an answer leads logically to the asceticism that marked the dark ages and the hard morbidity that characterized Puritanism. Meanwhile, "I was born to labor for others" means a race of slaves. "I was born to live and to enjoy myself upon the fruits of others' labor" means a class of snobs. The most satisfactory answer, in 21st century terms, is.... Become a patron of the Inspirational Living podcast to gain access to the full transcript and access to the Our Sunday Talks series: http://livinghour.org/patron. Related Spirituality Podcasts: Soul Growth & Spiritual Evolution The Joy of Selfless Love

Listen to episode 209 of the Inspirational Living podcast: The Smile of Mona Lisa & Secret of Life. Adapted from Adventures in Common Sense by Dr. Frank Crane. Inspirational Podcast Excerpt: Leonardo's Mona Lisa was stolen by an Italian thief in 1911, and when she finally got back to her place upon the walls of the Louvre two years later, all the world came to see her — on the first day of her home-coming some twenty thousand visitors trooped by to have a look at the most famous of paintings. And there, with those placid hands upon her lap, she sat in her frame, regarding the passers-by with her amused and superior smile, very much as you would look upon the antics of your pet kitten. "Why worry?" she seemed to say. "Here I am, as you see. I came back, of course, since it is written. It was destiny. All of us but follow our program. I am the original predestinarian. I am the cheerful fatalist. Men and women struggle and fume, but always by and by they do what is set down for them to do, in the book of fate. It is to smile!" “I am the companion of Omar Khayyam. For I am the Looker-On. I do not mingle with the energies of other people. I am the Bystander. My Maker was the Many-Minded One. He was a Philosopher. Philosophy is aloofness. I am the daughter of the Aloof. Leonardo smiled at people in his heart, and made me that I might smile at them forever." “I am the Eternal Feminine. I do not labor. I sit. I judge. I smile. I know; hence I am amused. I am in the secret of things, and that is always rather funny; it is so different from the appearance of things. In the core of wisdom is laughter. In the secret springs of history there is grim humor.” Related Inspirational Podcasts: Thoughts on Nature, Art & Beauty The Spirit of Opulence

Listen to episode 208 of the Inspirational Living podcast: Admiration & Everyday Heroes | The Heroic Spirit. Adapted from the book “Courage” by Charles Wagner. Motivational Podcast Excerpt: We live through respect, and we perish through scoffing. Plato banished musicians from his republic because he wrongly believed that music weakened a citizen’s courage. As for me, I declare war against the spirit of mockery. I wish that it might be eradicated, like those parasites which are nourished on our marrow and blood. Let us banish the scoffer. And, on the other hand, let us cherish admiration, respect, and enthusiasm in all their forms, as among the elements of a healthy morality, and the source of strong wills. All that I have to say on this subject, I shall try to say under the heading of Heroic Education. What is a hero? They are a person of larger stature than their contemporaries, one who has lived an intenser and wider human life than the majority — a being who concentrates, in their mind and heart, the aspirations of a whole epoch, and gives them powerful expression. Or it may be that they are the man or woman who appears above the crowd to accomplish one deed, but one so great, so fine, that it immortalizes them. Become a patron of the Inspirational Living podcast to gain access to the full transcript and access to the Our Sunday Talks series: http://livinghour.org/patron. Related Motivational Podcasts: Courage & Virtue Finding the Courage to Lead

Listen to episode 207 of the Inspirational Living podcast: Heredity, Instinct & The Power of Play. Edited and adapted from The Mind & Its Education by George Herbert Betts. Inspirational Podcast Excerpt: Each individual, busied with their own affairs and blinded by their own interests, is likely to take themselves for granted and forget that they are a part of a great, unbroken procession of life, which began at the beginning and will go on till the end. Strange indeed would it be if all the generations who have lived, struggled, and died before us, and whose blood flows in our veins had left no impression upon us. We are a part of all that has gone before, and all that comes after us will be a part of us. Each generation receives, through heredity, the products of the long experience through which their ancestors have passed. The generation receiving the gift today lives its own brief life, makes its own little contribution to the sum total, and then passes on as millions have done before. Through heredity, the passions, the fears, and the tragedies of generations long since moldered to dust, stir our blood and tone our nerves for the conflict of today. Every child born into the world has resting upon them an unseen hand reaching out from the past, pushing them out to meet their environment, and guiding them as they start upon their journey. Related Inspirational Podcasts: The Science of Being Great How to Be Bold, Free & Courageous

Listen to episode 206 of the Inspirational Living podcast: Finding the Strength to Love | Spiritual Growth. Adapted Edited and adapted from The Pathway of Roses by Christian D. Larson. Spiritual Growth Podcast Excerpt: There is nothing to lose but failure, and everything to gain, when we learn to love in a strong, high, universal sense. To begin, love as much as you can; be directly interested in the highest welfare of everybody; feel in the depths of the soul that we are all working together for the greatest good to all humanity; and make this feeling so strong that it thrills every fibre in your being. But do not love for effect. Love because you feel love. And train yourself to feel love by loving with all the power of love, and in the highest, purest sense you know. Those who try to ascend will go up; those who try to become strong will enter power; and those who try to love everybody with the deepest, highest, strongest love of the soul will daily enter more and more deeply into the very spirit of that love that is love. And when you are awakened in the world of true spiritual love, real love takes possession of all your feelings and desires; and all your love will eternally love because it is love. From that moment you will constantly receive love from all the world and constantly give love to all the world. Become a patron of the Inspirational Living podcast to get access to the full transcript and access to the Our Sunday Talks series: http://livinghour.org/patron. Related Spiritual Podcasts: Spirituality & Soul Wisdom The Joy of Selfless Love

Listen to episode 205 of the Inspirational Living podcast: The Ethical Entrepreneur | Motivation for Entrepreneurs. Edited and adapted from The Book of Business by Elbert Hubbard. Motivational Podcast Excerpt: Genius is only the power of making continuous effort. The line between failure and success is so fine that we scarcely know when we pass it — so fine that we are often on the line and do not know it. How many a person has thrown up their hands at a time when a little more effort, a little more patience, would have achieved success. As the tide goes clear out, so it comes clear in. In business, sometimes, prospects may seem darkest when really they are on the turn. A little more persistence, a little more effort, and what seemed hopeless failure may turn to glorious success. There is no failure except in no longer trying. There is no defeat except from within, no really insurmountable barrier save our own inherent weakness of purpose. Humankind is under the domain of Natural Law as much as bees. We succeed only by working with others and for others. Success lies in mutual service. This great truth concerning the solidarity of humanity marks a mental epoch in the onward and the upward march. It was hinted at pretty strongly in 1776, and carried into business as an experiment about 1876. It is no longer an experiment. Related Motivational Podcasts: How to Build a Business Startup The Psychology of Business & Life

Listen to episode 204 of the Inspirational Living podcast: Life is Good: Make Your Lives Extraordinary. Adapted from Concentration: The Road To Success by Henry Harrison Brown. Inspirational Podcast Excerpt: Remember to always mind your own business. Any argument or antagonism, is minding another person’s business. All persons have an equal right as you to think and act as prompted from within. In giving them this right in your thought, you cannot resist anything they do. You will think and act your thought freely. And since Goodness, Truth, and Love, are realities and are all, when you affirm these you will be powerful. Steel yourself with positive affirmations about life. Don't bark against the bad, but cheer the beauties of the good. When you concentrate on "cheering," you cannot bark. Which shall it be? Will you be a growler, or the one who cheers, in the arena of life? Stop fighting and begin to love life — all of life. The good and the bad. The joyful and the painful. The successes and the failures. The Universe is wise. The Law of cause and effect is divine. Love the Law. Agree with it. Denials are antagonism. Agree with your adversary, and let Love have sway! Related Positive Thinking Podcasts: The Power of Positive Thinking Rewiring Your Brain for Optimism

Listen to episode 203 of the Inspirational Living podcast: Success & The True Test of Character. Adapted from The Power of Purpose by William George Jordan. Inspirational Podcast Excerpt: The great test of individual character is not struggle, but attainment; not failure, but success; not adversity, but prosperity. When Nature wants to put you through the third degree, she places near you the laurel wreaths of victory. She megaphones to you the world's plaudits of success. She parades stacks of newspaper clippings and magazine articles with your portrait. She clinks money-bags in your ears, and she tells you confidentially of the world-changing power of your influence. She smiles on you kindly, and then sends you for your test through “the dark valley of prosperity.” Few people pass through it immune; few acquire no perversion of mind; few escape fractures of ideals or new dents in character. But if through it all, you remain just as good and simple and lovable as when you began the trip (remain kind, strong, sympathetic, sincere, and unspoiled), Nature is glad indeed to admit she has found a real individual of character — a great man or woman. It is called “the dark valley of prosperity” because it, so often, dims the vision to the finer realities of life. In the early stages, in the dimness, you cannot see your old friends as they pass. You become afflicted with peculiar muscle spasm which prevents you from extending your hand to someone no longer necessary to you. You acquire a form of memory impairment which prevents you from remembering past favors, and debts of gratitude, due to those who stood by you in your hours of need. You do not notice your increasing chest expansion. Related Motivational Podcasts: The Road to Character Building Character & Friendships

Listen to episode 202 of the Inspirational Living podcast: The Enemies of Success | Motivational Affirmations. Adapted from Stepping-Stones to Success by Horace D. Hitchcock. Motivational Podcast Excerpt: The things that hold you down; the things that keep success from your grasp; the things that bring you poverty and "bad luck" instead of wealth; the things that turn happiness and health away from you — what are they? They are the enemies of success, for like everything else, success has its negative elements ever working their way to produce failure. If success were attained without effort, if it were a natural condition, there would be no failures and there would be nothing to strive for, nothing to gain. All would be inertia. Life is a fight, a worthwhile battle, but mainly with the elements in one's own self. An understanding of self (with all its moods, possibilities and powers), is the first step towards self-achievement. But more than this is the self-driving power which must be generated and put to use if maximum results are desired. Success comes first to those who believe; to those who believe in self and in pluck rather than luck. Thousands fail because they are afraid. They are afraid to grasp opportunity; they are afraid to take a higher step; they are afraid to believe and have faith in those who would help them to success or a greater success. Become a patron of the Inspirational Living podcast to get access to the full transcript and access to the Our Sunday Talks series: http://livinghour.org/patron. Related Motivational Podcasts: The Power of Positive Thinking Overcoming Fear & Worry

Listen to episode 201 of the Inspirational Living podcast: Creative Originals | Success & Living Up to Your Potential. Adapted from Stepping-Stones to Success by Horace D. Hitchcock. Motivational Podcast Excerpt: You have the power within you to do something well and to do it like no other person — you have the power of original creation. You are in a world of your own. You can, to a certain degree, develop and enlarge that power so that it will bring you more happiness, money, prestige, or whatever it is you earnestly desire to possess. Countless thousands are plodding along day by day in the same manner in dead end jobs. Many cling on, trusting to good luck to carry them through. Every success to them is "pull" or just plain "luck." Thousands drift on as ships on the tide, in utter oblivion to the greater prosperity and happiness that would come to them through the proper development of their own talents. "What's the use?" they ask, and go on blindly in the same old way. "It is so very easy for you successful people to sit back and tell us poor devils how to succeed" is the wail of another person, implying again that luck is a synonym of success and lacking appreciation of the effort, the hard work, the years of concentration that brought the rewards of success. Related Inspirational Podcasts: The 8 Pillars of Prosperity Creativity & Mind Power

Listen to episode 200 of the Inspirational Living podcast: How to Build Personal Magnetism | Magnetic Charisma. Adapted Stepping-Stones to Success by Horace D. Hitchcock. Self-Development Podcast Excerpt: Henry Ward Beecher once said: "There are persons so radiant, so genial, so kind, so pleasure bearing, that you instinctively feel in their presence that they do you good; whose coming into a room is like the bringing of a lamp there." That is personal magnetism. It is that quality of personality which attracts, causes admiration in others, and is a compelling force to success and good living. A person may be beautiful and brilliant mentally, but if they lack "personal magnetism" they are dull and uninteresting to those with whom they come in contact. Personal magnetism is the magic flame that lights up the inner soul. It is that wonderful charm which, when properly cultivated and used, is a priceless treasure. It is true that all things of influence can be made to produce good or evil. The conventional terms "good influence" and "bad influence" pertain directly to the qualities of magnetic personality. This quality is inherent in all of us, yet very few people know of its possibilities or that it can be developed like any other quality of mind. Once again we are reminded of that great principle: Like produces like. Good influence produces good influence and, inversely, bad influence produces a negative quality. Become a patron of the Inspirational Living podcast to get access to the full transcript and access to the Our Sunday Talks series: http://livinghour.org/patron. Related Self-Help Podcasts: The Art of Charm The Power of Kindness

Listen to episode 199 of the Inspirational Living podcast: Sun Tzu: The Art of War | Leadership and Management. Adapted from the classic work by Sun Tzu. Podcast Excerpt: Welcome to the Inspirational Living podcast. If you value our podcast, don’t forget to like us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter, and subscribe to us on YouTube. If you feel inspired to leave us a review at the iTunes store, that would be much appreciated too. Today’s reading is a collection of quotes from Sun Tzu’s classic The Art of War, which was written in China during the 5th century B.C. “If you know your opponent and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not your opponent, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither your opponent nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.” “Supreme excellence consists of breaking your opponent’s resistance without fighting.” “There are not more than five musical notes, yet the combinations of these five give rise to more melodies than can ever be heard. There are not more than five primary colors, yet in combination they produce more hues than can ever been seen. There are not more than five cardinal tastes, yet combinations of them yield more flavors than can ever be tasted.” “When one treats people with benevolence, justice, and righteousness, and places confidence in them, they will be united in mind and all will be happy to serve their leaders.” “There are roads which must not be followed, competitors who must not be attacked, positions which must not be contested, commands of the bureaucrats who must not be obeyed.” “In the midst of chaos, there is also opportunity.” Related Inspirational Podcasts: The Wisdom of Confucius The Tao Te Ching

Listen to episode 198 of the Inspirational Living podcast: Facing the Mistakes of Life | No Regrets & Moving On. Adapted from The Power of Purpose by William George Jordan. Motivational Podcast Excerpt: There are only two classes of people who never make mistakes — they are the dead and the unborn. Mistakes are the inevitable accompaniment of the greatest gift given to humanity — individual freedom of action. If we were only a pawn in the fingers of Omnipotence, with no self-moving power, we would never make a mistake, but our very immunity would degrade us to the ranks of the lower animals and the plants. An oyster never makes a mistake — it has not the mind that would permit it to forsake an instinct. Let us be glad of the dignity of our privilege to make mistakes, glad of the wisdom that enables us to recognize them, glad of the power that permits us to turn their light as a glowing illumination along the pathway of our future. Mistakes are the growing pains of wisdom, the assessments we pay on our stock of experience, the raw material of error to be transformed into higher living. Without them there would be no individual growth, no progress, no conquest. Mistakes are the knots, the tangles, the broken threads, the dropped stitches in the web of our living. They are the misdeals in judgment, our unwise investments in morals, the profit and loss account of wisdom. They are the misleading by-paths from the straight road of truth — and truth in our highest living is but the accuracy of the soul. Related Motivational Podcasts: Overcoming Fear & Anxiety Dare to Be Great

Listen to episode 197 of the Inspirational Living podcast: Arthur Schopenhauer: Quotes, Wisdom & Philosophy Talk. Adapted from A Multitude of Counsellors by J.N. Larned. Self-Help Podcast Excerpt: The most general survey shows us that the two foes of happiness are pain and boredom. We may go further, and say that in the degree in which we are fortunate enough to get away from the one, we approach the other. Life presents, in fact, a more or less violent oscillation between the two. Needy surroundings and poverty produce pain; while, if we are more than well off, we are bored. Nothing is so good a protection as inward wealth, the wealth of the mind, because the greater it grows the less room it leaves for boredom. . . . The conclusion we come to is that the individual whom nature has endowed with intellectual wealth is the happiest. Men and women of inner wealth want nothing from outside but the gift of undisturbed leisure, to develop and mature their intellectual faculties, that is, to enjoy their wealth. In short, they want permission to be themselves, their whole life long, every day and every hour. . . . The value we set upon the opinion of others, and our constant endeavor in respect of it, are each quite out of proportion to any result we may reasonably hope to attain; so that this attention to other people's attitude may be regarded as a kind of universal mania which everyone inherits. In all we do, almost the first thing we think about is, what will people say; and nearly half the troubles and bothers of life may be traced to our anxiety on this score. . . . Related Self-Help Podcasts: Ben Franklin's Wisdom Confucious: Best Quotes & Sayings