Search the Loving Each Day Quotes

The cliché is that life is what you make of it, but, in a greater sense, it is what you do with it. Much too often it is your emotional opinion about what is going on that is the problem, rather than what is actually happening. Life is designed as a learning experience, not a penalty situation. Rather than being limiting and painful, relationships can be enriching and joyous.

Discover where you can assist, rather than interfere. Assistance is a very beautiful form of loving.

Though we may be thousands of miles away from one another we all are immediately present within the inner sanctuary in which our oneness and connection with God welcomes each of us in silence and prayer.

Discipline is the prelude to freedom. Therefore we enter willingly into discipline to gain freedom.

When you feel yourself to be in a position of suffering, you can almost bet that you have created that suffering for yourself. You may find yourself saying, "I need help, I need advice; these things happened and I have to find a way to solve this." What you are really saying is, "I did this and this and this, and now it's all come back to me, and it hurts." When this happens, you have two choices: you can laugh or you can cry -- but you have to handle it. You can stay in the feeling of misery and despair and cry over what has happened. Or you can start lifting yourself and say, "Well, it sure hurts when I laugh, but I'll laugh anyway." You'll feel so much better with the second choice. It might not take away the suffering, but it could make it easier to go through.

Q: How do we pray, just ask? J-R: Not only just ask, but pray fervently with emotion and depth and fire and conviction and claiming that. Then meditate and allow God to reach into you, tell you, be with you, so you can sense or hear God. It's called "waiting on the Lord." Another way is contemplation, just looking at the wonder of God, being in awe of a sunset, a flower, a baby, another human being -- the attitude of "God did this, it's marvelous!" Watching the surf coming in, listening to birds. There are just so many things we can contemplate where we're in awe of beauty. It's a Zen state, it just is.

Life really is just humor at its funniest state. Sometimes it gets so funny you can even laugh. And there is no need to substitute crying for laughing.

Is it faulty to see something as bad? Not necessarily. When you see something that seems bad, that is reality to you; you recognize it as being bad. At this point, you haven't done anything out of line. You are simply recognizing or acknowledging the reality of the moment. While someone else might see it differently, in your consciousness it seems bad. Your next action would be to place the Light into that reality to bring it into balance. That action may make it explode, erupt, clean out -- whatever is necessary to bring it back into balance.

Keep the process of taking care of yourself as one of enjoyment rather than a privilege that requires permission from others. When you choose to take care of yourself rather than require yourself to first attend to others you can do so smiling and with ease. Often by taking care of yourself you put yourself into a position so you can help take care of others with joy and satisfaction for all involved.

Q: So much of my trouble seems to come from lack of awareness, but how do I get awareness in an area if I don't even know I'm unaware in it? A: I think a lot of us could answer to that one. If we had all the awareness we wanted, we just wouldn't do a lot of the things that we do. But we probably wouldn't be here, either. It's important to remember "intention." God is your partner, and what you ask for is brought to you, although not necessarily in your timing, or looking the way you thought it would. So ask for greater awareness where you need it, for the highest good, and then watch. I have talked about keeping a journal, and this is another area in which you might do that. Keep track of awarenesses you have during the day, during your spiritual exercises, or when you wake up in the morning. If you are watching and listening, you will realize when your awareness is awakening in a new way. Be grateful for what and who comes your way, and keep doing your spiritual exercises. These can also open the door to greater awareness.