Inspirational Living: Life Lessons for Success & Happiness

Listen to episode 524 of the Inspirational Living Podcast: The Heroism of Every Day Life. Edited and adapted from A Man’s Reach or Some Character Ideals by Charles Edward Locke. Visit today's sponsor Swanson Health at Swanson.com. And use coupon code LIVING20 for 20% off. Inspirational Podcast Excerpt: In every age, we hear much talk of heroes. We are fascinated by stories and tales that spur the imagination to the loftiest heroism. But I would call your attention to the greatest of all heroism: that heroism which does not receive the plaudits of the crowd, nor attract the eyes of the multitude. It is not richly rewarded with treasure, and does not have medals struck for its accomplishments. I am thinking of the rescues and battles, the sacrifices and generosities, and the invincible courage which are unheralded, unrecorded, and unrewarded, but upon which the security and prosperity of our times depend. Many a person in a moment of emergency would rush at the risk of their life to the rescue of an imperiled friend; but that same person may not possess the stalwart heroism necessary to withstand certain temptations which are ruining their life and bringing agony to those who love them.

Listen to episode 523 of the Inspirational Living Podcast: Overcoming Hurry, Worry, and Irritability. Edited and adapted from The Freedom of Life by Annie Payson Call. Visit today's sponsor at ReelPaper.com, and use the coupon code LIVING for 25% off your purchase. Inspirational Podcast Excerpt: Remember that worrying is resistance, and resistance is unwillingness. Unwillingness interferes with whatever we may want to accomplish. To be willing that this, that, or the other thing should happen seems quite difficult, when to our minds, this, that, or the other thing may bring disaster. And yet if we can once see clearly that worrying resistance tends toward disaster rather than away from it, or, at the very least, takes away our strength and endurance, it is only a matter of time before we become able to drop our resistance altogether. However, it IS a matter of time, and not instantaneous. So, once we are faced toward freedom from worry, we must be patient and steady, and not expect to gain very rapidly. We must be persistent, and resist the temptation to do nothing to overcome our worries. I remember a woman who once said to me, "Now I have got something to worry about for the rest of my life.” Her face was set toward worrying. Nothing but her own will could have turned it the other way, and yet she deliberately chose not to use it, and so she was fixed and settled in her self-made prison for the rest of her life.

Listen to episode 522 of the Inspirational Living podcast: Inspiring Thoughts on Self-Development & Self-Growth. Edited and adapted from The Call of Life by William L. White. Visit today's sponsor Swanson Health at Swanson.com. And use coupon code INSPO20 for 20% off. Inspirational Podcast Excerpt: The ushering in of a New Year brings with it to so many people New Year’s Resolutions. This is a splendid practice and I would not discount New Year Resolutions one iota, but instead give unto them strength. Indeed, I wish to encourage not only resolutions for the New Year, but to urge everyone to be on the alert, taking stock, visualizing, and planning to better not only ourselves, but our neighbors and that sphere of the world which we touch. And whenever a new thought for a better practice in the upbuilding of our lives crosses our minds, do not wait for the New Year to roll around to record it and start practicing it, but begin at once. If the word resolution sounds "too tame," the words maxim or motto may be used. When carried to the final analysis it is “habit” that we are seeking, because after all, life consists of a bunch of habits. If everybody, especially young people, during the formative period of their lives, would give ten minutes to serious thought and write down on paper at least one resolution, maxim, or motto every week, which you intend to practice and actually incorporate into your life, we would see an astounding change for the better in the individual, which means, also, a rising generation.

Listen to episode 521 of the Inspirational Living podcast: Becoming Rich in Knowledge & Wisdom | Education. Edited and adapted from Right Living by Susan H. Wixon. Inspirational Podcast Excerpt: That which we know is all our own. The more we know (the more we absorb of useful knowledge) the richer we become. Science which can be shown, demonstrated, and realized, is the desirable thing. Think about it. Does not actual knowledge put to flight all extremes of error and misunderstanding? Take a fact in Nature. Prove it, and it becomes yours. And not all the hyenas and bloodhounds of ignorance can take it from you. As someone has said before, "There are two valuable possessions which no search warrant can get at, and which no reverse of fortune can destroy: they are what a person puts into their head (i.e. knowledge), and what they put into their hands (i.e. skill)." Is there any limit to the acquisition of knowledge? No. Nobody has gained the whole of knowledge, and no one knows so much that they may not acquire still more. Sir Isaac Newton said at the close of his illustrious life, that the great facts he had found by study and search, were but pebbles on the seashore, compared to the vast ocean of knowledge still untouched. ------- Thanks to Himalaya Botanique for sponsoring today's episode. Himalaya Botanique — the toothpaste that’s free from fluoride, SLS, and artificial colors and flavors, but bursting with foam and flavor! Enjoy 20% off your purchase of Himalaya toothpaste, using discount code LIFELESSONS at Amazon. To learn more about Himalaya Botanique and Ayurvedic wellness visit Himalayausa.com.

Listen to episode 520 of the Inspirational Living podcast: The Grand Secrets of Success | Self-Reliance. Edited and adapted from The Grand Secrets of Success, compiled by The Toronto News Company.Today's podcast was sponsored by The Forager Project. They have provided non-partisan voting resources and information for you at ForagerProject.com/vote.Inspirational Podcast Excerpt: There are different ways of getting on in the world. It does not always mean making money, or being a great individual for people to look up to. Leaving off a bad habit for a good one is getting on in the world; to be clean and tidy instead of dirty and disorderly is getting on; to be careful and saving instead of thoughtless and wasteful is getting on; to be active and industrious, instead of idle and lazy is getting on; to be kind and forbearing, instead of ill-natured and quarrelsome, is getting on; to work as diligently in the boss's absence as in their presence is getting on.In short, when we see anyone properly attentive to their duties, persevering through difficulties, to gain such knowledge as shall be of use to themselves and others, offering a good example to their acquaintances, we may be sure that they are getting on in the world.Those who wish to get on in the world must have a stock of patience and perseverance, of hopeful confidence — a willingness to learn, and a disposition not easily cast down by difficulties and disappointments.

Listen to episode 519 of the Inspirational Living podcast: Success Habits & The Character That Triumphs. Edited and adapted from The Ideal Man by John Priest Greene.Today's podcast was sponsored by The Forager Project. They have provided non-partisan voting resources and information for you at ForagerProject.com/vote.Inspirational Podcast Excerpt: Let us talk about character. IS it grown, or engraved, or forged? All of these. We are born without character, but it soon sprouts, and then grows rapidly. The soil is the home, the school, the social life, the business world — different kinds of soil, each contributing its element to the growth of character.Parents, teachers, companions, and business associates are the character-cultivators, and largely determine the quality of the product — but each one grows their own character.  The word "character" is Greek, and means "engraved" — an ancient and beautiful conception. We (sometimes with the help of others) engrave our own characters when we begin to act on our own judgment, when we choose and do, and thus form habits.A habit is a groove or a line cut in the soul, fixed, along which future action is almost sure to run. Many habits make an engraving, a permanent picture of the soul or character. It may be truly said, also, that character is forged. The human soul is a piece of metal, without form and beauty. It must be worked over. In order to make it right, it must go into the hot fire and under the big hammer. If properly forged, it will come out with a permanent form of grace and beauty. False lines and deformities — bad habits of thought and action — must therefore be hammered out. They cannot be brushed off.  

Listen to episode 518 of the Inspirational Living podcast: Inspirational Life Lessons on Happiness. Edited and adapted from The True Source of a Happy Life by Hugh Wayt. Today's podcast was sponsored by The Forager Project. They have provided non-partisan voting resources and information for you at ForagerProject.com/vote. Inspirational Podcast Excerpt: It will help much in learning the lesson of happiness if we persistently train ourselves to be cheerful and to see the bright things in our every-day life. There are some people who seem to have eyes only for the disagreeable things. They find every bit of roughness and hardness in life's pathway. They see at once (and see it magnified) every unpleasant thing that comes into their lives. They remember every unhappy experience they ever had. They keep on the walls of their memory pictures of all their vanished joys and faded hopes. They indelibly record all the trials, adversities and misfortunes they have ever suffered. But, on the other hand, they are forgetful of all their blessings. They hang up no pictures of the joys they did not lose, which have filled their lives on so many bright days. They have poor memory for the things that beautify and gladden life. There are few habits more common than this: of remembering the unpleasant and forgetting the pleasant things — and there is no other habit which is a greater enemy of true joy. The person who would be of good cheer must break this habit if it has fastened itself to your life. You must train yourself to see the beautiful things and be blind to the disagreeable things. There are, in the ordinary life, a thousand pleasant things (favors, joys, comforts, things to cheer) to one unpleasant thing, one real cause for unhappiness. It is a shame, therefore, to let the one bit of roughness, trial, or suffering spoil all the gladness of the thousand blessings, to let the one discordant note mar all the music of such splendid harmony.

Listen to episode 517 of the Inspirational Living podcast: Vitality: Building a Healthy, Energetic Personality. Edited and adapted from Be Good to Yourself by Orison Swett Marden, published in 1910. Today's podcast is sponsored by Love Good Fats, the delicious, award winning bars and shakes, made with clean ingredients and only 1-2 grams of sugar. Get 20% off with the coupon code: LIVING. Go to: https://livinghour.org/lovegoodfats Inspirational Podcast Excerpt: There is nothing which pays greater dividends than self-investment; keeping yourself up to standard by buttressing your health in every possible way and using the utmost care and exactitude in regimen, in work habits, and in life habits. In order to be well-balanced, self-poised, and broad-minded, one must have a great variety of experience. And for this, play is just as necessary as work. The person who is everlastingly working, who never gets time to play, to see their friends, to travel, or to go into the country, because they think time is too precious, that they must utilize every minute in practical work, is defeating the very purpose which they are trying to attain. There must be spontaneity, buoyancy, elasticity, and vivacity in your activities. And everyone who wishes to get the maximum of achievement out of life should know all Nature’s methods of rejuvenation.

Listen to episode 516 of the Inspirational Living podcast: Success Mindset: A Sense of Humor. Edited and adapted from Invincible Power by John Henry Remmers, published in 1922. Inspirational Podcast Excerpt: When life appears to be going against us, our first inclination is to frown and become irritable. This state of mind causes confusion and leads to despair, throwing us out of harmony with Faith. We lose the power of receptiveness and are unable to receive the Divine message and strength which would otherwise lead us out of the darkness back into the light. On the other hand, when things seem all wrong and we hold onto Faith, reinforced by a sense of Humor, and a smile of confidence, we retain our receptive mood, and positively (very often swiftly) receive the intelligence to solve those problems confronting us. If you truly wish to live successfully, it is important that you retain always your sense of Humor. Of course, there are times for seriousness and also solemnity, but do not allow any occurrence or condition to so burden your mind that you lose your sense of Humor. In other words, do not look upon life too seriously. It is only a burden if you make it so. 

Listen to episode 515 of the Inspirational Living podcast: Mental & Physical Fitness for Success in Life. Edited and adapted from Keeping Fit by Orison Swett Marden, published in 1914. Today's podcast is sponsored by Love Good Fats, the delicious, award winning bars and shakes, made with clean ingredients and only 1-2 grams of sugar. Get 20% off with the coupon code: LIVING. Go to: https://livinghour.org/lovegoodfats Motivational Podcast Excerpt: The grandest work a human being can do is to keep themselves fit for the greatest thing they are capable of doing, the highest service they are capable of rendering; always up to the level of their greatest efficiency. To keep fit is to maintain perfect health. And perfect health depends upon a perfect balance of mind and body, unimpaired physical vigor, absolute inner harmony, and a calm, mental poise which nothing can disturb. Every normal human being can, if they will, raise themselves to this condition. You can live in such a simple yet scientific manner that you will not only have great disease-resisting power, but you will also be at the maximum of your creative ability.

Listen to episode 514 of the Inspirational Living podcast: Making the Most of Yourself | Life lessons. Edited and adapted from Personal Power by Keith J. Thomas. Inspirational Podcast Excerpt: Most people who are conscious of weaknesses of some kind or other, use the knowledge to avoid the work which would call their deficiencies into play. They lack self-confidence because they keep their weaknesses ever before their eyes. The wise individual relies on his or her strength. They takes their stand upon what they can do. And when they are called upon to do something which will make use one of their weak faculties, they makes up their mind to do the best they can, while they draw upon their strong qualities as much as possible. The golden rule, therefore, is to keep your strong qualities in front of your eyes, so to speak, and ignore your weak ones. Do not pander to these latter ones. Treat them as if they were sources of strength, too. That is what Shakespeare means when he says, "Assume a virtue if you have it not.” Every now and then you will ask yourself how your weak faculties are improving (and if you have done your best to develop your mind and character); and you will have the satisfaction of noting an extraordinary development of strength which you never dreamed of.

Listen to episode 513 of the Inspirational Living podcast: Making the Most Out of the Day | Motivational. Edited and adapted from Youth and Opportunity by Thomas Tapper. Motivational Podcast Excerpt: Welcome to the Inspirational Living podcast. If you enjoy our podcast, please do share your favorite episodes with friends on Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn. We also appreciate your positive reviews at the iTunes store. Thank you. Today’s reading was edited and adapted from Youth and Opportunity by Thomas Tapper, published in 1912. When Alexander Pope wrote the line, "Hope springs eternal in the human breast," he expressed a truth that (considered in the fullness of its suggestion) is electrifying. With the coming of the inspiring impulse of hope, we find again open to us the doors that have shut us in. We look out over a vast field of possibility. Once more, we are in the presence of our rightful heritage. It lies, bright and enticing, before us; it beckons us to come; it speaks to us plainly; it promises much if we will only go forth and dwell as a worker in the fair field of its golden opportunities. We feel no doubts arise within us about the reality of eternal hope. We are convinced that we may possess the best things of life to whatever extent we desire. We realize that we have only to be brave and pay the price. And the price is Work. Shall we, then, with courage (and courage is rightly a quality of the heart) begin to labor for the rewards and blessings of hope — or shall we permit the light to fade from our sight, and entering again upon the way of darkness, grope in a poverty of opportunity? Our decision in this matter, conditions all the success that may be our portion — for, curiously, this word “success” has a simple basic meaning: to go along. It implies motion toward the thing desired.

Welcome to the Inspirational Living podcast. For a limited time you can now get 25% off our Book of Zen apparel at Design By Humans, including free worldwide shipping for orders over $75. Check out our inspirational t-shirts, hoodies, and gift items by visit LivingHour.org/bookofzen. Each item includes one of my own original sayings inside a zen enso circle. Thank you. Today’s reading was edited and adapted from Personal Power by Keith J. Thomas, published in 1917. It is the modern habit to worship bigness. The people we are told to admire are those who conceive of vast undertakings and carry them through successfully. There seems to be a romance about “thinking in millions,” which is apparently absent when dealing in smaller numbers. I once knew a titan of industry. He was a man known for big thoughts, who did big things. He controlled hundreds of workers; he traveled all parts of the world; he was ever searching for ideas, and always seeking the expansion of his big undertakings. And yet, through it all, he was always most profoundly impressed with the vital importance of the little things of life. Thus we, who are so enamored with talk of bigness, may well consider the significance of this mature conclusion from a great captain of industry: that the small things may well be the greatest things after all.

Listen to episode 511 of the Inspirational Living podcast: The Key that Unlocks the Heart | Life Lessons. Edited and adapted from Personal Power by Keith J. Thomas. Inspirational Podcast Excerpt: Welcome to the Inspirational Living podcast. To support our podcast with a one-time financial donation, please visit LivingHour.org/donate. Thank you. Today’s reading was edited and adapted from Personal Power by Keith J. Thomas, published in 1917. Our own mind is for our own use. We cannot exert any of its power without affecting ourselves. Feelings of anger affect us physically. Indeed, they hurt us, and do not harm the object of our displeasure. There are what may be termed positive and negative forces of mind. Active sympathy is a positive quality. Indifference is negative. When we exercise a benevolent feeling of mind it has some practical use, and this is clearly understood in the case of sympathy. Sympathy is a good sentiment. We were meant to be compassionate. And if a habit of mind is good, it must produce some good effect on our lives. The value of sympathy lies in its power to harmonize minds, so that one can become susceptible to the influence of another's thoughts. You will find that the cultivation of sympathy will draw people toward you. They instinctively open their hearts to a sympathetic listener. When two brains are "tuned up" to sympathy, they will naturally convey and receive messages from one another. The action of the brain is similar to that of phone in its ability to generate waves. We do, in fact, project thought waves which are capable of penetrating space and affecting a brain that is in sympathy with our own.

Listen to episode 510 of the Inspirational Living podcast: How to Create Good Luck | Success Tips. Edited and adapted from Personal Power by Keith J. Thomas. Inspirational Podcast Excerpt: Welcome to the Inspirational Living podcast. I’d like to start today by thanking our two newest patrons: Patrick Hampton and Linda Brill.  Patrick and Linda now get exclusive access to over 250 additional podcasts plus full transcripts. You too can gain access right now for as little as $3 a month. Learn more by visiting LivingHour.org/patron. Today’s reading was edited and adapted from Personal Power by Keith J. Thomas, published in 1917. An old proverb says that "Good courage breaks ill luck.” In other words, mental power, rightly directed, is the only force that creates good luck. Hard work alone will not make you lucky. You must be ready to seize your good luck when it comes, and you must search for it until you find it. Ask yourself now, "Am I lucky! Am I trying to be lucky? Am I determined to be lucky?" You are the only person who can decide. If you want to be lucky, you must train your mind to obey your will, and you must rule it with wisdom, courage, and foresight. In what manner are you exercising your mind and keeping it fit? You must know that your mind will do a lot of work for you without any effort on your part if you train it carefully. For instance, the mind works while we sleep. Not only is this shown by our dreams, but there are countless instances where people have gone to bed worried and perplexed over some problem, and on waking in the morning have found the solution in their minds.

Listen to episode 509 of the Inspirational Living podcast: Breathing for Vitality & Success | Healthy Living. Edited and adapted from Success Through Thought Habit by Benjamin Johnson. Inspirational Podcast Excerpt: Your character represents the result of the habits you have formed. Your habits show your manner of thought. Your manner of thought is in turn affected by your method of breathing. Would you like to succeed? Then breathe systematically, intelligently, and happily. The air is filled with life-giving oxygen ready for you to use. It is already yours. But you must give it space in which to do its work. Unless you have the force of will necessary to breathe correctly (not only once but many times a day), you have not sufficient will to develop your mental faculties to their greatest capacity — hence your thinking will be limited. You have probably, like many other people, considered breathing as a natural process not worth bothering about. And so, like many other people, you have starved certain organs of your body, impoverished your brain, and then sought for some remedy to act as a tonic. ------------------- Thanks to Himalaya Botanique for sponsoring today's episode. Himalaya Botanique — the toothpaste that’s free from fluoride, SLS, and artificial colors and flavors, but bursting with foam and flavor! Enjoy 20% off your purchase of Himalaya toothpaste, using discount code LIFELESSONS at Amazon. To learn more about Himalaya Botanique and Ayurvedic wellness visit Himalayausa.com.

Listen to episode 508 of the Inspirational Living podcast: Taking Stock of Yourself and Your Future. Edited and adapted from Personal Power by Keith J. Thomas. Motivational Podcast Excerpt: Welcome to the Inspirational Living podcast. Get the official Inspirational Living t-shirt now on sale at Tee-Public for only $13. The sale only lasts through Friday, so get yours now by visiting LivingHour.org/shirt. Today’s reading was edited and adapted from Personal Power by Keith J. Thomas, published in 1912. One of the greatest personal triumphs is to look back over a year and observe an advance in mental power and achievement. To know yourself a better person than you were twelve months ago, to have a finer record of good work done, and to have acquired greater ability for doing things, is a reward that is known only to the earnest worker. The idler, the prevaricator, and the shirker have no concept of this form of reward for labor. It is sweeter than praise, and better than money, inasmuch as power of the mind commands money, and is, therefore, superior to it. Tomorrow ought to find you a better person than you were yesterday. Next year you ought to be capable of work that was unknown to you twelve months before. You can only discover what you are capable of by striking out on new lines of endeavor. And to do this successfully, you must seize every opportunity for more important work that comes your way.

Listen to episode 507 of the Inspirational Living podcast: Fine Tuning the Vibration of Your Life. edited and adapted from Love’s Way by Orison Swett Marden. Inspirational Podcast Excerpt: Welcome to the Inspirational Living podcast. If this podcast has inspired you, or helped you in any way, please do let me know by leaving us a positive review at the iTunes store or on Google Play. I always love hearing how this podcast has positively impacted your life. Thank you. Today’s reading was edited and adapted from Love’s Way by Orison Swett Marden, published in 1918. Every life is a vibration, and the quality of our lives is determined by the quality and the rate of our vibrations. Harmonious vibrations mean health, happiness, efficiency, success. Discordant vibrations mean strangulation, discord, thwarted ambition, a wrecked career. If we live in the midst of discordant vibrations which are antagonistic to one another, life will be whittled away at a terrific rate. If, on the other hand, we keep ourselves in tune with the infinite harmonies, we shall preserve the harmonious action of our brain, our nerves, our mental and physical being — and this harmony will heal, will increase our power, success, and happiness.

Listen to episode 506 of the Inspirational Living podcast: Developing a Grander Vision of Life. Edited and adapted from The Call of Life by William L. White. Inspirational Podcast Excerpt: Welcome to the Inspirational Living podcast. Get full transcripts of our podcast, plus exclusive access to over 250 additional podcasts by becoming our patron today. Learn more by visiting LivingHour.org/patron. Today’s reading was edited and adapted from The Call of Life by William L. White, published in 1922. We need men and women of the heroic type, who are seeking a vision of life —those who have the courage to stand for the right regardless of criticism, and those who, when weighed in the balance, will not be found wanting. We must be loyal to our visions. It takes courage for a person to stand up for their convictions and ideas, particularly in this day of constant change, when one is so liable to be ridiculed as being impractical and old-fashioned. The world is yearning in its anxiety for proper development, for men and women who can think real thoughts, who can thoroughly disentangle the truth from the web of falsity and chance, who can test their thoughts and deeds in the acid bath of service, and whose minds are open to inspiration from all sources, and who will go forth cheerfully to battle for the things that need to be done, and thus gain the victory of life.

Listen to episode 505 of the Inspirational Living podcast: Taking Control of Your Life & Destiny. Edited and adapted from Realization by Elkanah M. Gibson. Motivational Podcast Excerpt: There are two roads open to every person. One leads to health, strength, beauty, long life, honor, and happiness; the other to sickness, sorrow, gloom, disease, and death. The allurements and temptations are many, and it requires courage and will-power to resist them. There is nothing more utterly false and misleading than the idea that success is measured by the amount of money or property acquired. A successful life is a healthy, useful, happy life — regardless of the amount of money that’s been made. Right thinking and right living is the road to success. It IS success. Just as soon as we commence to think right and live right, we are already successful, and become more and more so every day we pursue this course. The very thought that we are improving our condition and becoming stronger increases our confidence and happiness. Success is within the reach of all: the poor and the sick, as well as the rich and the strong. Just live right, think right, and act right. Be honest with yourself. You know what is right. Just simply have the courage to do what you know to be right in all things. And when you do, you have already entered the gateway to true happiness. You will have attained a success that is beautiful and lasting — one that will crown your life with honor and plenty.

Listen to episode 504 of the Inspirational Living podcast: Believe in Yourself | Self-Confidence & Enthusiasm. Edited and adapted from The Call of Life by William L. White. Visit today's sponsor at ReelPaper.com, and use the coupon code LIVING for 25% off your purchase. Inspirational Podcast Excerpt: As little as we tend to think about it, that ingredient which we call self-confidence makes up the larger portion of all the successes in this world. Of the countless women and men who have failed, a large percentage of them were actually capable of doing great things, but they did not have faith in themselves. They lacked self-confidence. Success was theirs only for the asking, but the go forward spirit and courage were missing. In order to attain success, a person must continue to think in terms of success, for "As you thinketh, so you are." Generally speaking, we all agree with but do not act upon this belief. Two-thirds of the battle is already won, if we only believe in ourselves when undertaking a job. The dictionary defines self-confidence as having confidence in one's unaided powers, judgment, ability, etc. In other words, it is the belief that you can produce results. When you insist that you can succeed, and are determined that you will succeed, there is nothing in the world that can stop you.

Listen to episode 503 of the Inspirational Living podcast: Inspirational Thoughts on Happiness. Edited and adapted from Happiness by Arthur James Kappele, published in 1919. Inspirational Podcast Excerpt: Welcome to the Inspirational Living podcast. Get the best essays of our podcast in a bundle of 3 e-books for only $9.99 by visiting InspirationalLifeLessons.com. Today’s reading was edited and adapted from Happiness by Arthur James Kappele, published in 1919. Today I would like to share with you some thoughts on happiness and living a happy life. First of all, be grateful for kindness shown to you. And see to it that you return a good deed, with interest, if the opportunity presents itself, or, better yet, make the opportunity — lest you forget. On the other hand, if another person tries to show you their appreciation for some kind act, do not make it hard for them to repay you. Instead, anticipate their wish and meet them half way, thus assisting them on the road to happiness by helping them fulfill their desire. It is selfish to refuse their repayment. If you did your good act in the right spirit, you will remember the pleasure and satisfaction that you derived in so doing. Let the other person experience the same sensation. Don't look upon any kindness shown to you, with suspicion. There are still some sincere people in the world. Believe in them, and it will help them to be sincere. Have you ever noticed how you are always certain when you have done a real good act? How it stimulates you, acting quicker than the strongest medicine and leaving nothing but good results? If you haven’t, try it. The truth of the matter is, the more good acts one does, the greater the pleasure. This is because the more you do, the more you are able to do, without giving the action any thought. In other words, the action becomes spontaneous and not studied. In fact, it becomes a habit. Get into the habit.

Listen to episode 504 of the Inspirational Living podcast: Using Wealth to Bring Out the Best Within You. Edited and adapted from The Power of Mental Demand by Herbert Edward Law. Visit today's sponsor at ReelPaper.com, and use the coupon code LIVING for 25% off your purchase. Inspirational Podcast Excerpt: Your thoughts are a force. They are an absolute power. If you earnestly desire wealth by right means, that desire will draw to you all the proper forces which assist in its acquisition. If these thoughts and forces are for good; if they are for the purpose of acquiring wealth that you may enjoy it, but not hoard it; in a word, if your desire for wealth is for the good it can effect, it will accomplish that purpose; and every influence and every associated force will be for good. Your success (desired and prosecuted on proper lines) will bring good to everyone with whom you come in contact. It will give employment to those about you; will provide sustenance for their families; will bring health where ill-health has been. It will give you the power to extend help to those who are in need. It will give you the power and mean with which to extend the good work and forces that bring about better conditions among those needing and deserving them. In a word, it not only makes possible your own success, but in proportion as you succeed, does it also bring with it opportunities for accomplishing good, which without success would be absolutely out of your reach.

Listen to episode 503 of the Inspirational Living podcast: Getting the Most from Criticism | Self-Growth. Edited and adapted from A Life of Character by J.R. Miller. Inspirational Podcast Excerpt: No one's knowledge is really universal. None of us know more than a few fragments of the great mass of knowledge. There are some things somebody else knows better than you do, however wide your range of learning may be. There are very humble people who could give you suggestions well worth taking on certain matters concerning which they have more correct knowledge than you have. If you wish to make your work perfect, you must condescend to take information from anyone and everyone who may be ready to give it to you. It is true, also, that others can see faults and imperfections in us — which we ourselves cannot see. We are too closely identified with our own life and work to be unprejudiced observers or just critics. We can never make the most and the best of our life, if we refuse to be taught by others than ourselves. The best-made individual is the one who in their formative years has benefited from wholesome criticism. Their life is developed on all sides. Faults are corrected. Their nature is restrained at the points where the tendency is to overgrowth, while points of weakness are strengthened.

Listen to episode 502 of the Inspirational Living podcast: Reducing the Friction of Life | Healthy Mindset. Edited and adapted from The Power of Mental Demand by Herbert Edward Law. Visit today's sponsor at ReelPaper.com, and use the coupon code LIVING for 25% off your purchase. Inspirational Podcast Excerpt: What is it that wears out and breaks down machinery? Friction. What is it that wears out and breaks down lives? Friction. Friction retards action, reduces productivity, and wastes power. It wears, destroys, kills. Friction is the most constant problem in mechanics. It is the most destructive element in life. When spoken of literally, friction applies only to physical objects. Figuratively and metaphorically, it applies to life and to individual and social relationships. As applied to life, it is so apt a figure of speech that we do not realize that it IS one until our attention is called to it. We speak of friction in an organization, or between individuals, or in our own life, and realize that it is so wearing, wasteful, and needless that it seems the very same thing as the friction of mechanics. And while we have learned many ways for reducing friction in mechanics, we practice very few for reducing it in human life.

Listen to episode 501 of the Inspirational Living podcast: Motivation for an Enthusiastic Life. Edited and adapted from The Power of Mental Demand by Herbert Edward Law. Inspirational Podcast Excerpt: Welcome to the Inspirational Living podcast. If you plan to do a little homeschooling this year, or have friends or family who are homeschooling, don’t forget about my English reading course at Udemy. This fun, quiz-based course quickly takes students from a 3rd grade reading level to a 7th grade level, with interesting short passages about the arts, sciences, business, and more. Over 1,800 students have already taken my course, and given it over a 4 star rating. It’s also a great reading course for students of English as a 2nd language. Get the course now while it is on sale by visiting LivingHour.org/reading. Thank you. Today’s reading was edited and adapted from The Power of Mental Demand by Herbert Edward Law, published in 1916. THERE is no element so important to a successful business or a successful life as enthusiasm. Yet it is an element often not thoroughly understood, or very accurately measured. It is rarely given the degree of importance to which it is entitled. Indeed, it is often neglected altogether. Enthusiasm is faith in action — it puts your beliefs to the test. The enthusiast believes that the thing can be done. They have the faith to believe that it ought to be done; and they have the enthusiasm to do it. To the unthinking, enthusiasm is but the foam on deeply stirred waters. In truth, it is the striving of the waters themselves. It is the very life of effort. It is to effort what fire is to coal, what steam is to the engine, what a lighted fuse is to a charge of dynamite — the vital force which brings action. Enthusiasm gives a sparkle to your eye, light to your countenance, spring and action to your step, certainty to your effort, and force and vigor to your movements. It gives character and vitality to your desires. It is the difference between wish and determination; between the inanimate body and the living, acting human being.

Listen to episode 500 of the Inspirational Living podcast: The Sun Dial’s Motto | Motivational Podcasts. Edited and adapted from Peace, Power & Plenty by Orison Swett Marden. Motivational Podcast Excerpt: Welcome to the Inspirational Living podcast. If you enjoy today’s podcast, please help us spread the word by sharing it with your friends on Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn. Thank you. Today’s reading was edited and adapted from Peace, Power, and Plenty by Orison Swett Marden, published in 1909. On a famous sun-dial it is written: "I record none but hours of sunshine." Every human life would be beautified by making this a life motto. What a great thing it would be if we could only learn to wipe out of our memories forever everything unpleasant, everything which brings up bitter memories, unfortunate associations, and depressing, discouraging suggestions! If we could only keep our minds filled with beautiful thoughts which uplift and encourage, the efficiency of our lives would be multiplied.

Listen to episode 499 of the Inspirational Living podcast: Overcoming a Poverty Mindset| Law of Opulence. Edited and adapted from Peace, Power & Plenty by Orison Swett Marden. Inspirational Podcast Transcript: Welcome to the Inspirational Living podcast. Don’t forget to check out our collection of inspirational fashion and gifts at BookofZen.com. Each item features one of my own original thought-provoking sayings inside a zen enso circle. Thank you. Today’s reading was edited and adapted from Peace, Power, and Plenty by Orison Swett Marden, published in 1909. The worst thing about poverty is the poverty thought. It is the conviction that we are poor and must remain so that is fatal to progress in life. Holding the poverty thought keeps us in poverty-stricken and poverty-producing conditions. Poverty is an abnormal condition. It does not fit any human being's constitution. It contradicts the promise and the prophecy of the divine within us. The Creator never intended that we should be a pauper or a slave. There is not a single thing in the wonderful human mechanism that indicates we were created for a life of poverty. There is something larger and grander for us in the divine plan than perpetual slavery to the bread-winning problem. None of us can do our best work — bring out the best within us — while we feel want tugging at our heels, while we are hampered, restricted, forever at the mercy of pinching circumstances. The very poor (those struggling to keep the wolf at bay) cannot be independent. They cannot order their lives. Often they cannot afford to express their opinions, or to have individual views.  Poverty in its extreme form is narrowing, belittling, contracting, ambition-killing — an unmitigated curse. There is little hope in it, little prospect in it, little joy in it. It often develops the worst in us and kills love between those who would otherwise live happily together.

Listen to episode 498 of the Inspirational Living podcast: Overcoming a Fear of Failure | Success Talks. Edited and adapted from Personal Power by Keith J. Thomas. Inspirational Podcast Excerpt: Welcome to the Inspirational Living podcast. If you are interested in podcasts about spirituality and spiritual growth, don’t forget about my exclusive podcasts for patrons Our Sunday Talks, which includes over 140 podcasts. Not only are these my own talks, but I also share with you some inspiring talks from my favorite authors and speakers of the past. You can gain access to this podcast series for as little as a $3 a month donation, as well as other benefits exclusively offered to our patrons. These monthly donations go a long way in helping me to be able to continue producing the Inspirational Living podcast each week. Learn more by visiting LivingHour.org/patron. Thank you. Today’s reading was edited and adapted from Personal Power by Keith J. Thomas, published in 1917. When we go to a movie theater to see a film, we often marvel at the splendor of the scenic effects. A beautiful sunrise or sunset is reproduced on the screen with such fidelity that it stirs up emotions within us. Aided by the art of the actors and the drama of the music, the scene often affects us more than the real wonders of Nature which are going on around us every day. In the theater, these things are forced upon our attention and we realize their beauty, while the infinitely greater beauty of the real thing goes unnoticed. As the old saying goes: "Eyes have we, and we see not". Why? Because we have not trained our eyes to see. Suppose, for one moment, that the sky had always been gray and overcast since you were born, and that one summer evening a wind sprang up and the clouds dispersed, revealing the majesty of the stars and all the wonders of the heavens. Would you not believe that a miracle had happened? Yet how often do you look up and see with discerning eyes this inspiring and uplifting spectacle? All the gifts of Nature are to be had for the asking. They are your right. But, like all gifts worth having, they must be striven for. You must train your eye to look for them, and your brain to hear and understand. Then you will see how the earth can take on the form of Paradise, and will hear in its sounds the harmonies of heaven.

Listen to episode 498 of the Inspirational Living podcast: Overcoming a Fear of Failure | Success Talks. Edited and adapted from Personal Power by Keith J. Thomas. Inspirational Podcast Excerpt: Welcome to the Inspirational Living podcast. I’d like to start today by letting you know that our three books of inspirational life lessons are now available in paperback. That means you now have three versions to choose from: hardcover, paperback, and e-book. To order the paperback version on Amazon, please go to LivingHour.org/amazon. Thank you. Today’s reading was edited and adapted from Personal Power by Keith J. Thomas, published in 1917. How many people fail in life only because they are obsessed with a fear of failure! They so fill their minds with the thought of failing that they approach every task as if it were an impossibility. They start with the idea that perfect success (for some reason) is denied to them — that they are unlucky, as compared with those fortunate ones who seem to turn to gold everything they touch. Someone said to me once: “I would rather start in a humble way and work up gradually, than start big and come down in the world.” But the people who are afraid to "start big" never achieve greatness. They are the very people who do come down in the world. They are so full of the idea of coming down that all thought of progress is crushed out of their minds. If they would only fix their thoughts on big things and success, and be determined to move forward, instead of dreading to go backward, they would lose their fear of failure. And they would get so used to the thought of success that achievement would become natural to them.

Listen to episode 497 of the Inspirational Living podcast: Becoming a Great Soul. Edited and adapted from Four Minute Essays by Frank Crane. Inspirational Podcast Excerpt: Welcome to the Inspirational Living podcast. Get exclusive access to over 200 additional podcasts from our archive by becoming our patron today. Learn more by visiting: LivingHour.org/patron. Thank you. Today’s reading was edited and adapted from Four Minute Essays by Frank Crane, published in 1919. Would you like a magic formula to help you though life? Here is one that I like to repeat over and over again. It goes like this: Mine own will come to me. This statement is not provable. The deepest truths of life never are. The creeds of the world that have led humanity up out of barbarism into civilization, out of war into law, out of lust into love, are all open to doubt. We do not reach those sublime conclusions that transform our lives by building Babel Towers of bricks of Logic, for the end of all such work is a confusion of tongues. Instead, we fly to them by the airplanes of Faith. We believe them. We do not know them. And the best things of existence are believed, not known. We believe them because we are drawn to them, because something in them appeals to something in us. The most usable and persuasive wisdom has never been included in encyclopedias. It is felt by simple hearts, as sunshine is felt. It comes to us by affinities and repulsions that are as mysterious (yet as potent and undeniable) as electricity. So, that is how I know: Mine own will come to me.

Listen to episode 496 of the Inspirational Living podcast: Being the Victor & Not the Victim of Circumstance. Edited and adapted from The Aim of Life by Philip Stafford Moxom. Inspirational Podcast Excerpt: Welcome to the Inspirational Living podcast. I’d like to start today by thanking all of you who have taken advantage of our new e-book special, which is still ongoing. Go to InspirationalLifeLessons.com to get all 3 of our e-books (Evergreen, Everest, and Evermore) for the one low price of $9.99. Each of these books features 50 of the best essays I’ve read on the podcast. Thank you. Today’s reading was edited and adapted from The Aim of Life by Philip Stafford Moxom, published in 1894. CHARACTER is a very different thing from reputation, although the two often are used interchangeably. Reputation is what you are thought to be. Character is what you are. The one is opinion. The other is fact. Circumstances and associations (or even artful management) may give you a fictitious reputation for a time. But your character is yourself, and that at last makes your real reputation. You may run away from a bad reputation, for that is something outside of yourself. But you can never run away from a bad character, for that IS yourself. Your reputation is like your shadow, which (according as the sun is high or low) may be longer or shorter than yourself, or may even disappear altogether, as when the sun is at its zenith. But your character is like the color of your eyes — look which way you will, it is the same.

Listen to episode 495 of the Inspirational Living podcast: Motivation for Making the World a Better Place. Edited and adapted from The Power of Truth by William George Jordan. Motivational Podcast Excerpt: Welcome to the Inspirational Living podcast. If you have been helped by this podcast, please let me know by leaving this podcast a positive review at the iTunes store. Thank you. Today’s reading was edited and adapted from The Power of Truth by William George Jordan, published in 1902. This world would be a delightful place to live in — if it were not for the people sometimes. They really cause all the trouble. Our worst enemy is always ourselves. We began to throw the responsibility of our transgressions on someone else in the Garden of Eden, and we have been doing so ever since. The greater part of the pain, sorrow, and misery in life is purely a human invention. It comes through breaking laws: laws natural, physical, civic, mental, or moral. These are laws which we all know, but we disregard. We take chances. We think we can dodge results in some way. But Nature says, "You who breaks my laws, pays.” Nine tenths of the world's sorrow, misfortune, and unhappiness is preventable. The daily newspapers are the great chroniclers of the dominance of the unnecessary. Paragraph after paragraph, column after column, and page after page of the dark story (accidents, disasters, crime, scandal, human weakness and evil) might be checked off with the word "preventable."

Listen to episode 494 of the Inspirational Living podcast: The Royal Road to Happiness | William George Jordan. Edited and adapted from The Majesty of Calmness. Happiness Podcast Excerpt: Welcome to the Inspirational Living podcast. Right now you can get all 3 of our eBooks (Evergreen, Everest, and Evermore) altogether for the one low price of $9.99. Each book of life lessons contains 50 inspirational essays that were once featured on this podcast. To get your copies now, go to InspirationalLifeLessons.com. Thank you. Today’s reading was edited and adapted from The Majesty of Calmness by William George Jordan, published in 1900. "During my whole life I have not had twenty-four hours of happiness." So said Prince Otto von Bismarck, one of the greatest statesmen of the nineteenth century. Imagine that! Eighty-three years of wealth, fame, honors, power, influence, prosperity and triumph – years when he held an empire in his fingers – but not one day of happiness! Happiness is the greatest paradox in Nature. It can grow in any soil, live under any condition. It defies environment. It comes from within. It is the revelation of the depths of the inner life, as light and heat proclaim the sun from which they come. Happiness consists not of having, but of being; not of possessing, but of enjoying. It is the warm glow of a heart at peace with itself. A martyr at the stake may have happiness that a king on his throne might envy. We are the creator of our own happiness. It is the aroma of a life lived in harmony with high ideals. For what we have may be dependent on others; what we are rests with us alone. And what we obtain in life is but an acquisition; what we attain is growth.

Listen to episode 493 of the Inspirational Living podcast: Optimism & The Keys to Happiness. Edited and adapted from Personal Power by Keith J. Thomas. Inspirational Podcast Excerpt: Welcome to the Inspirational Living podcast. If you would like to give back to this podcast with a one-time financial donation, please visit LivingHour.org/donate. Thank you. Today’s reading was edited and adapted from Personal Power by Keith J. Thomas, published in 1917. Free will means the power to rule our minds. We cannot rule unless we understand. It is not necessary that we should indulge in morbid introspection concerning ourselves. We can learn by studying human nature, and by pondering over the lives of the great women and men of the ages. Self-control is the first lesson that life teaches us, because without it we cannot succeed in anything we undertake. Success is merely a relative term. To a number of people it stands for happiness; to some, contentment; to others, money. Money is not to be despised. After all, it is the visible and tangible sign of success in business. We must never forget, however, that success in business does not necessarily mean success in life. If you have money, you want to know how to use it so that it will bring you actually what you need, and this demands a cultivated and well-balanced mind. There is one quality of the mind that makes for power and progress above all others. Without it, life must be a failure and a fraud, hopeless and despairing. With it, all the days are tinged with rose, and all our troubles, defeats, and disappointments are but the sign-posts marking our steps on the road to success and happiness. It is the philosopher's stone of life which turns all it touches to gold.

Listen to episode 492 of the Inspirational Living podcast: Climbing the Ladder of Success. Edited and adapted from Personal Power by Keith J. Thomas. Inspirational Podcast Excerpt: Welcome to the Inspirational Living podcast. Remember that for as little as $3 a month, you can gain exclusive access to over 250 additional podcasts from our archive, as well as full transcripts to every episode. And access to our weekend podcast Our Sunday Talks. Go to LivingHour.org/patron to sign up on Patreon and get special access today. Today’s reading was edited and adapted from Personal Power by Keith J. Thomas, Published in 1917. Many companies have taken to adopting mottoes to keep always before the minds of their staff and stimulate them to efficient work. Years ago, one of the most popular to be seen hanging in an office was: "Do it now." An enterprising advertising firm later adapted this into the trade-marked phrase, “Do it better.” Other popular mottos that I have come across include “Do the next thing” and “Do it at once and do it well.” A business friend once told me that he thought a good motto would be, "Do it yourself” — and within sensible limits the phrase is excellent, since many of us are too fond of leaving to others the things we should do ourselves. It is a good idea to have some such guiding principle in life, some mental spur that will always make us produce our best. Indeed, take for your motto the words “Do your best,” and you will never have cause to complain of failure in life. Whatever you have to do, do it as well as you know how. The habit of doing everything as perfectly as you can will influence your character and your whole future.

Listen to episode 491 of the Inspirational Living podcast: Motivation for Patience & Perseverance. Edited and adapted from How to Get On in the World by Major A.R. Calhoun. Motivational Podcast Excerpt: Welcome to the Inspirational Living podcast. If you enjoy our podcast, you can help spread the word by leaving us a review at the iTunes store, because the more great reviews we get the more easily it is for others to discover us. Plus I always love reading how this podcast has had a positive effect on you. Thank you. Today’s reading was edited and adapted from How to Get On in the World by Major A.R. Calhoun, published in 1895. If success were possible only to women and men of great talents, then there would be little success in the world. It has been rightly said that talent is just as much the ability to stick to a thing, as the aptitude to do it better than another. Ulysses S. Grant once said, "I will fight it out on this line, if it takes all summer." This statement of General Grant doesn’t indicate so much a man of genius, but rather a man of indomitable perseverance, a perseverance to which he owed all his success. The key to his character was tenacity. The soldier who begins the battle in doubt is half beaten in advance. The entrepreneur who loses heart after one failure is a fool to have even started. There is a great deal in good preparation, but there is a great deal more in heroic perseverance.

Listen to episode 490 of the Inspirational Living podcast: Motivation for Developing Your Personal Power. Edited and adapted from Personal Power by Keith J. Thomas. Visit today's sponsor Swanson Health at Swanson.com. And use coupon code LIFE20 for 20% off. Motivational Podcast Transcript: "Be not afraid of greatness," says Shakespeare. "Some people are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them." Which are you? I will tell you. You were born great; you can achieve greatness if you will; and if you go about it the right way, you will have greatness thrust upon you. The mistake so many people make is to confuse greatness with riches. The great person can have all they want, but they need not necessarily become rich. Carlyle was no more intended to be a millionaire than Andrew Carnegie was made to be a Milton. We cannot all be Shakespeares, or Darwins, or Rockefellers, but we can all be great. If we want money we can get it; if we want power we can get it: the only condition being that we should want it badly enough. Whatever our desire is, we must be prepared to give up all pleasure and all ease to attain it. Fortune is a hard mistress and will brook no rivals. But to the person who is prepared to serve her whole-heartedly, she offers the sure promise of their heart's desire.

Listen to episode 489 of the Inspirational Living podcast: Success, Education & The School of Life. Edited and adapted from Youth and Opportunity by Thomas Tapper. Inspirational Podcast Excerpt: Every task you are called upon to do is not in itself a final act, but an initial act. Every task is suggestive of something higher than itself. Every task and object you contribute to the world is a real thing, something that other people will look at, and by it be more or less influenced. Now, as every object or task that you contribute to your environment defines you, you should take care that it defines you correctly. The task and the thing are photographs of your mental vision. The more care you take with the negative, the better picture of your intentions you will present to your environment and your times. The records of the past (and the amazing activities of the present) offer you numberless roads to follow. Whichever highway you elect to travel fixes your direction. You can travel the road both bravely and helpfully; bravely, in that you have faith that it leads you where you must go; helpfully, in that you leave evidence of the work of your mind and hands as you go along, and in that it shall inspire love of work in those who come after, and faith in the direction of the road. Help disadvantaged children get a head start by visiting today's sponsor SavetheChildren.org.

Listen to episode 488 of the Inspirational Living podcast: Taking Control of Your Mind & Body | Health Podcasts. Edited and adapted from Youth and Opportunity by Thomas Tapper. Visit today's sponsor Swanson Health at Swanson.com. And use coupon code LIFE20 for 20% off. Inspirational Podcast Excerpt: The truth is that you will succeed in life just as you learn to do your work with mind and body as your two great servants. You must be able to say of yourself, as Jean Jacques Rousseau said of his friend Ignacio de Altuna, "His body was well formed for the residence of his mind." If he want to have a strong body, you must devote your thought to strength. If you want to be rich in material things, you must think and plan and work thoughts of riches. If you want to be of great use in the world, you must direct your thought upon utilitarian activities. Any or all of these conditions will come about if you keep on thinking about them. It sounds easy, does it not? And yet, most people fail to master mind and body, although success depends on this very mastery. Why do they fail? There are certain things about the mind and body which must be understood early in life if we wish to succeed. In the years of childhood and youth, and before we know just what we want to do in the world, mind and body are full of strength and freshness. We use them with little or no thought. We do not realize that they are our servants, and come to believe: "I am a mind and body. What they do, I am." But, in fact, we should believe, "I have a mind and a body. What I do with them, I am." 

Listen to episode 487 of the Inspirational Living podcast: How to Overcome Fear | Courageous Living. Edited and adapted from Everyday Efficiency: A Practical Guide to Efficient Living by C.H. Forbes-Lindsay. Motivational Podcast Excerpt: Welcome to the Inspirational Living podcast. To support our podcast with a one-time financial donation, please visit LivingHour.org/donate. You kind support will help ensure the continuation of our podcast for years to come. Thank you. Today’s reading was edited and adapted from Everyday Efficiency: A Practical Guide to Efficient Living by C.H. Forbes-Lindsay, published in 1918. Fear is the most devastating agency in life. It prevents initiative, paralyzes effort, promotes disease, hampers development and in a thousand ways mars the character. And yet, it is one of the most common defects in character. Most of us are subject to Fear in one form or another. We fear fate, we fear death, we fear disease, we fear poverty, we fear failure, we fear accident, we fear difficulties, we fear responsibility, and on and on. While writers on the subject agree that Fear often becomes a vice, few offer any practical suggestions for its eradication. The reader is generally advised to use their Reason, which is well enough as far as it goes, but the fact remains that the conclusions of Reason are frequently not sufficient to control action. Lyman Abbott states that if we look back upon those times in our lives when we thought we were facing danger, we will see in retrospect that the lions were almost ways chained. We know from personal experience that situations which initially excited our fears, were rarely, if ever, as bad as our imagination had pictured them.

Listen to episode 486 of the Inspirational Living podcast: The 3 Pillars of Success and Happiness. Edited and adapted from Success by Lord Beaverbrook. Visit today's sponsor Swanson Health at Swanson.com. And use coupon code LIFE20 for 20% off. Inspirational Podcast Excerpt: Success — that is the royal road we all want to tread, for it gives us the opportunity to exercise our abilities and activities to the full.  Like all human affairs, success is partly a matter of predestination and partly of free will. You cannot make genius, but you can improve upon it or destroy it, and most people possess the assets which can be turned into success. But those who possess these precious gifts will have to gather and expand them. What are the qualities which make for success? They are three: Judgment, Industry, and Health, and perhaps the greatest of these is judgment — for in proclaiming the word judgment one has said everything. In the affairs of the world it is the supreme quality. Surrounding good judgment there cluster many qualities, like the setting around a jewel: such as, the capacity to read the hearts of others; to draw an inexhaustible fountain of wisdom from every particle of experience in the past, and to turn the current of this knowledge into the dynamic action of the future.

Listen to episode 485 of the Inspirational Living podcast: Cheerfulness & The Wheel of Life. Adapted from Everyday Efficiency by C.H. Forbes-Lindsay. Inspirational Podcast Excerpt: Welcome to the Inspirational Living podcast. To get the best essays from our podcast in heirloom hardcover or digital e-book, please visit InspirationalLifeLessons.com. Today’s reading was edited and adapted from Everyday Efficiency: A Practical Guide to Efficient Living by C.H. Forbes-Lindsay, published in 1918. Cheerfulness is the lubricant of the "Wheel of Life." It lightens labor, diminishes difficulties, and mitigates misfortunes. After what we may term the essential virtues, Cheerfulness is the most desirable human quality. And it is the most conspicuously absent among Americans. As Emerson once said, "I question if care and doubt ever wrote their names so legibly on the faces of any other population.” With us the "wheel of life" is allowed to become rusted with worry and clogged with the dust and lint of petty frictions, so that the round of daily life is made doubly difficult and wearing. It IS possible for a cheerless person to achieve success, but they do so at terrible cost to themselves and others. They cannot enjoy money, position, and other attainments, for the power of enjoyment soon passes away from them. They never appreciate the truth that happiness is to be found in living, in endeavor, in the pursuit. The object striven for seldom brings the anticipated happiness. The person who views life as a painful drudgery to be compensated for by the ultimate realization of a supreme desire has grievous disappointments in store for them — for as Stevenson said: "To travel hopefully is better than to arrive, and true success involves labor. Surely we must look for happiness along the road — not at the end of it.”

Listen to episode 484 of the Inspirational Living podcast: We are the Master of Ourselves and Fate. Adapted from the book Concentration: The Key to Constructive Thought by C. W. Kyle. Visit today's sponsor Enhance Tomorrow for success and motivational e-books, all in one place, for one low monthly fee. https://www.enhancetomorrow.co.uk Inspirational Podcast Excerpt: The axiom, ''As you thinketh in your heart so you are,” is the most startling truth ever uttered about humankind. What an amazing statement it is — for it reveals that we are possessed of the power to create and rule ourselves and our environment by the choice and mastership of our thoughts! The wonderful fascination of this saying lies in the all-embracing statement which it so directly makes. It covers every possible action we take, and clearly states that we are capable of exercising unlimited powers. Look which way we will, we cannot escape from the finality of this decree. The beauty of this saying is that it is true, just as it is written. You ARE a world within yourself, and you ARE master of yourself. It matters not how well or ill you may exercise your powers of mastery. You are the unquestioned thinker of your own thoughts, which are the tools of your trade. You are the master craftsman of your own designs, and you build constructively or destructively as you will. You make yourself sick or well, rich or poor, strong or feeble, sorrowful or joyous by the character of the thoughts you think.

Listen to episode 483 of the Inspirational Living podcast: Developing a Great and Powerful Personality. Edited and adapted from Leadership by George H. Knox. Motivational Podcast Excerpt: There is a force in the world that is all-powerful — something that transforms us into giants when we open our minds to the highest good. There is a power that enables you to multiply your mental force a thousand times, and even to increase your physical force until you can almost defy fatigue and disease. We see this power every day in the faces of women and men, in the painting of the artist, in the song of the poet, in all the great achievements of humankind. What is this power? Perhaps no one knows for sure. But as we use electricity without knowing exactly what it is, so does this peculiar something exert an influence greater than that of electricity. Scientists tell us that the entire atmosphere is filled with energy, that there is an ocean of energy enveloping the world, and as we use this force or energy does it come to us in an ever-increasing supply. However, this phenomenon alone cannot account for our personality, nor how we can develop it; how we can become magnetic and attractive; how we can develop capacity for work and leadership. Help disadvantaged children get a head start by visiting today's sponsor SavetheChildren.org.

Listen to episode 482 of the Inspirational Living podcast: The Wealth & Greatness Within You | Living Your Ideals. Edited and adapted from Levels of Living by Henry Frederick Cope. Inspirational Podcast Excerpt: Welcome to the Inspirational Living podcast. If you enjoy our podcast, you can help us out by leaving a positive review at the iTunes store. Thank you. Today’s reading was edited and adapted from Levels of Living (Essays on Everyday Ideals) by Henry Frederick Cope, published in 1908. There is an old mystical saying that the things which are not seen are essential to all success. We are blind if we can see only with our eyes, and we only are sensible when we know that there are many things beyond our senses. Practical people consider all the factors to every problem, and things are not less real to them because they might be intangible. The unseen things are imminent to us always. There are many things not yet pigeonholed by our science nor catalogued by our philosophies. You can dissect a daisy and enumerate its parts; but you never know a daisy until you have seen the unseen things thereof, until you have felt the subtle appeal of its beauty. The danger is that in our hard workaday lives we shall forget the reality of the unseen; we shall get to thinking that gold, steel, land, and money are the only real things. How easy it is to measure everyone by their possessions of tangible things. How easy to make these our chief end in life — to slight the real prizes (the unseen wealth that lies so close at hand or already possessed), while we rush and strive for the rainbow of riches.

Listen to episode 481 of the Inspirational Living podcast: Courage, Self-Mastery & Rising Above Our Failures. Edited and adapted from Ready Money by George H. Knox. Inspirational Podcast Excerpt: Success is largely a matter of management. Self-mastery means more than doing right morally and controlling one's temper. You, indeed, must have something of a temper if you are going to be good for anything. Without a temper a person is like a piece of untempered steel. But while it’s necessary to have a temper, it is also necessary to control it, at least most of the time — all the time would be asking too much. It is said that the person who can control their temper can control others and have things their own way. But sometimes our inclinations are harder to control than our temper. It is understood that we should control our thoughts and actions so far as not doing certain things is concerned, but it is doing things that we don’t like to do, or when we don’t like to do them, that is the real test — for there is such a thing as impulse, moods, and the blues that we must contend with. It is said that a horse is a creature of impulse. If it wants grass it eats grass; if it wants to lie down it lies down. We are sometimes also a creature of impulse to a certain extent. When we feel like quitting, we too often quit, whether we are through or not. When we don’t like the work, we quit for the same reason. And when we get the blues; we quit simply because we are blue. Help disadvantaged children get a head start by visiting today's sponsor SavetheChildren.org.

Listen to episode 480 of the Inspirational Living podcast: Finding Yourself | Living Up to Your Potential. Edited and adapted from Ready Money by George H. Knox. Motivational Podcast Excerpt: Welcome to the Inspirational Living podcast. A special thanks to our newest patrons: Lucy Burns and Afya Gabriel. I truly appreciate your financial support. Thank you. Today’s reading was edited and adapted from Ready Money by George H. Knox, published in 1905. There's not very much difference between the person who is succeeding and the other who isn't; between the person who is taking big strides onward, and the other who is doing only fairly well. One has discovered themselves; and the other has not. One knows they can do things; and the other is not sure. We are more capable than we think we are. We don’t expect as much of ourselves as we should. We too frequently judge ourselves by what we are, instead of what we may become by adding just a little more energy and thought to our efforts. The rate at which your capacity for doing things can be developed is wonderful. You can do but a little today, but by doing that little (and doing it with snap and energy), you are a stronger person tomorrow. You can do more. And the next day a new idea is evolved in your mind. You begin to think. And thinking is what makes the woman and man — not thinking alone, but thinking and putting those thoughts into action.

Listen to episode 479 of the Inspirational Living podcast: Getting Started Right Each and Every Day. Edited and adapted from Byways of Blessedness by James Allen. Motivational Podcast Excerpt: Life is full of beginnings. They are presented every day and every hour to every person. Most beginnings are small, and appear trivial and insignificant, but in reality they are the most important things in life. See how in Nature everything proceeds from small beginnings. The mightiest river is at first a rivulet over which the grasshopper could leap; the great flood commences with a few drops of rain; the sturdy oak, which has endured the storms of a thousand winters, was once an acorn; and the smoldering match, carelessly dropped, may be the means of devastating a whole town by fire. Have you yet discovered the vast importance of beginnings? Do you really know what is involved in a beginning? Do you know the number of beginnings you are continuously making, and realize their full importance? If not, come with me for a short time, and thoughtfully explore this much ignored pathway to success and a life well lived. Help disadvantaged children get a head start by visiting today's sponsor SavetheChildren.org.

Listen to episode 478 of the Inspirational Living podcast: How to Strengthen Your Will-Power | Motivation. Edited and adapted from Stepping-Stones to Success by Horace D. Hitchcock. Motivational Podcast Excerpt: Welcome to the Inspirational Living podcast. A special thanks to our newest patrons Krishno Sarkar and Zakhar. If you would like to become a patron and gain exclusive access to over 175 additional podcasts from our archive, as well as my new series of articles on how to run joyfully while completing the Couch to 5K program, visit LivingHour.org/patron. Thank you.  Today’s reading was edited and adapted from Stepping-Stones to Success by Horace D. Hitchcock, published in 1914. When it comes to human accomplishment, the power of will is the greatest power in the world. In fact, no person can determine the limits of any individual mind; neither can they foretell the limits of human endeavor. The accomplishments of today would appear as positive impossibilities to those who lived ages ago. A safe maxim for the future thus might be: "There is nothing that is impossible." The power of will is a force distinctly human, and involves that which cannot be fully understood or explained. Like electricity, we know its cause and effects, but we do not know exactly what it is. Thought power deals with the brain in activity, and it is a conscious power; in other words, "Will power." No normal person lives who does not have some will power. The common phrase, "I have no will power” is a contradiction and an impossibility. “Nothing is impossible to the person who can will. That is the only law of success," said Mirabeau, the French revolutionary.

Listen to episode 477 of the Inspirational Living podcast: The Meaning of Money & How to Use It. Edited and adapted from Youth and Opportunity by Thomas Tapper. Inspirational Podcast Excerpt: Welcome to the Inspirational Living podcast. I’d like to start today by expressing my gratitude to all of you who listen to this podcast. We just passed the 10 million download mark, which is millions more than I ever thought we’d get when I started this podcast. So, thanks again. It is a real privilege to be part of your life each week. Today’s reading was edited and adapted from Youth and Opportunity by Thomas Tapper, published in 1912. When discussing the Factors of Success, comparatively few people would fail to insist that the one thing above all others in desirability and importance, is money. We give precedence to money because we believe in its power, and yet, at the same time, it is the most impotent of our many servants. Rightly regarded, money is a wholesome possession. The amount of good it can be made to do is so astounding that it is no wonder we regard it as the greatest thing in the world. Yet it is not the greatest thing in the world. It is merely one essentially important thing, and about its importance everyone should rightly inform themselves.