Inspirational Living: Life Lessons for Success & Happiness
The Living Hour
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With 11+ million downloads, the Inspirational Living podcast offers motivational broadcasts for the mind, body, and spirit. If you want to find a free online life coach, look no further than the most motivational self-help authors of the past. Each self-development podcast is edited & adapted from the books and essays of classic inspirational writers, such as Ralph Waldo Emerson, Helen Keller, Booker T. Washington, James Allen, Ella Wheeler Wilcox, Orison Swett Marden, Neville Goddard, and Frederick Douglass, as well as self-development authors who have largely been lost to history but deserve to be re-discovered again and enjoyed. Subscribe to our inspirational podcast to receive new free podcasts every week. Live up to the potential of your highest self. Support us on Patreon for full transcripts and access to the series Our Sunday Talks: https://www.patreon.com/inspirationalpodcasts
Available episodes
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2 days ago
Finding Your Place in Life | Personal Development
Listen to episode 553 of the Inspirational Living Podcast: Finding Your Place in Life | Personal Development. Edited and adapted from How the Mind Works by Christian D. Larson.
*Inspirational Podcast Excerpt* : There is a belief among many that honest people ought to have the best that life can give. But the mere state of being honest is not sufficient. The best person in the world will be a failure if they do not employ their ability constructively — because it is doing things that counts. And to do things, the powers we possess must work in harmony and with a definite object in view.
In this regard, we must not forget that a mind that is pure, honest, and just can accomplish far more with a given ability than one who does not have these virtues. Virtues do not create, but they do have the power to give proper direction to the process of creation. It is constructive ability that does things. Character simply guides the doing so that the product may be of the highest order and the greatest worth.
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4 days ago
The Greatest Power Within You | Self-Help Podcasts
Listen to episode 552 of the Inspirational Living Podcast: The Greatest Power Within You. Edited and adapted from How the Mind Works by Christian D. Larson.
*Self-Help Podcast Excerpt* : Welcome to the Inspirational Living podcast. I have some exciting news about a beautiful, new short film that is going to feature audio from this podcast. The film is an irreverent story about a homeless man who stumbles upon an eccentric self-help program that guides him on his odyssey to become a fisherman. In addition to providing inspirational audio to the filmmakers, I am also one of the film’s producers.
To learn more about this film project and our Kickstarter campaign, visit LivingHour.org/film ( https://livinghour.org/film ). Thank you.
Today’s reading was edited and adapted from How the Mind Works by Christian D. Larson, published in 1912.
The powers and possibilities that are inherent in the human mind are practically unbounded — for virtually no limit can be found to anything in human nature. The discovery that everything in human nature contains a latent capacity for perpetual development should give us a new conception of ourselves, a conception which when applied will revolutionize the entire sphere of our thought and action.
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Feb 18, 2021
Training Your Mind for Complete Success
Listen to episode 551 of the Inspirational Living Podcast: Training Your Mind for Complete Success. Edited and adapted from Personal Power by Keith J. Thomas.
*Inspirational Podcast Excerpt* : If you want to make yourself great, it is worth a little trouble, and the habit of doing things in the best possible manner will make you do everything you undertake in the same spirit of thorough perfection. The same divine, creative spirit dwells in you that dwelt in Michelangelo, in Catherine the Great, in Plato and St. Paul. The only power that differentiated them from others and made them heroic figures shining brightly in the firmament of life was the power of mind. That same power will raise you above others, above your competitors in business, above the disabilities of your environment — that power and no other.
If you are to raise yourself intellectually the stimulus must come from yourself. You must make a point of training your mental faculties all day and every day, till you know what a vast power you have within you and how to use it.
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Feb 16, 2021
Planning for Success in Business & Life
Listen to episode 550 of the Inspirational Living Podcast: Planning for Success in Business & Life. Edited and adapted from Personal Power by Keith J. Thomas.
*Inspirational Podcast Excerpt* : In training the mental faculties, we should keep before us the Greek ideal of all-around-fitness. Too many people are foolishly anxious about discovering some particular branch of knowledge which it will pay them to study. Knowledge should be pursued for its own sake. It’s been said: “Seek fortune and it flies from you, treat it casually and it follows you.”
This means that if you go upon the principle of getting the most out of your daily life and doing the most work you can every day you live, your life's work will open itself out. Only by acquiring all the knowledge you can, will you find what particular branch of knowledge is of most use to you. Be sure that all information worth acquiring will be of use to you someday or other, sooner or later.
You can learn something worth knowing from everyone you meet — something which will be useful to you in later life, though the information may seem useless to you at the time. All the greats of history acquired knowledge wherever they could; they extracted it from all the people they met, stored it in their minds, and used it when the proper time came.
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Feb 11, 2021
Making the World a Better & Brighter Place
Listen to episode 549 of the Inspirational Living Podcast: Making the World a Better & Brighter Place. Edited and adapted from Personal Power by Keith J. Thomas.
*Motivational Podcast Excerpt* : The nearer we get to the real source of the joy of life, the more real will become the beauties of the earth. The bright and beautiful things of the world shine in their sublimest splendor for those who see only the good in their fellow creatures. There are no dark or gloomy thoughts to dim the radiance of earth and heaven.
The first essential of that charm which attracts others is a belief in the innate goodness of humanity, and a strong desire to help it forward. Many a friendship has been broken by a loan of money, but friendships are never broken by understanding sympathy and practical help.
Out of a constant recognition of the good in others, and a persistent blindness to their faults and shortcomings, grows sympathy and tact. Many an action that seems harsh is seen to be necessary when all the circumstances of the case are known. Learn to make allowances and to judge others not from the standpoint of mental or moral superiority but of equal weakness. That is the way sympathetic natures are made.
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Feb 9, 2021
Overcoming Your Doubts and Fears | Motivational Podcasts
Listen to episode 548 of the Inspirational Living Podcast: Overcoming Your Doubts & Fears | Motivational Podcasts. Edited and adapted from Personal Power by Keith J. Thomas.
*Motivational Podcast Excerpt* : “For the timid and hesitating, everything is impossible, because it seems so," says Sir Walter Scott. The converse is expressed in the English proverb, "Nothing is impossible to a willing mind.”
The limit of our achievements is the power of our own thought. The mind grows on what it feeds upon. If you allow doubt to occupy any place at all in your mind, that doubt will grow there. A little hesitation will grow into a big doubt, and the habit of doubt will surely result in death to self-reliance, and good-bye to success.
Out with all your doubts and fears! They are unworthy of your mind, which should be in harmony with the Infinite. No task can ever come your way that you have not the power within you to fulfill....
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Feb 4, 2021
Self-Improvement | Making the Most of Your Life
Listen to episode 547 of the Inspirational Living Podcast: Self-Improvement: Making the Most of Your Life. Edited and adapted from The Psychology of Success by Newton N. Riddle.
*Inspirational Podcast Transcript* : Energy combined with emotion produces enthusiasm. Cultivate it. You must have it. Nothing worthwhile was ever accomplished without it. The student that lacks enthusiasm seldom does well. The teacher without it is a failure. The salesperson without enthusiasm sells little.
It all begins by increasing your mind power; by changing every intellectual faculty from negative to positive, and training all to work together, thereby giving capacity to perceive, to remember, to think, to know, and to do.
The person who doesn't notice is always short on the required information. The one who doesn't remember is constantly forgetting what they learn and neglect what they should attend to. The one who has not learned to think is a slave to other people's opinions, lacks judgment, initiative, and fails to think of the thing that should be thought of to make a success. All of these adverse conditions can be overcome.
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Feb 1, 2021
The Science of Being Great | Wallace D. Wattles
Listen to episode 546 of the Inspirational Living Podcast: The Science of Being Great. Edited and adapted from a book by the same title by Wallace D. Wattles.
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*Inspirational Podcast Excerpt* : Greatness is only attained by the constant thinking of great thoughts. No person can become great in outward personality until they are great internally; and no person can be great internally until they begin to THINK. No amount of education, reading, or study can make you great without thought; but thought can make you great with very little study. There are altogether too many people who are trying to make something of themselves by reading books without thinking; all such will fail. You are not mentally developed by what you read, but by what you think about what you read.
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Jan 28, 2021
Living Up to Every Day's Possibilities
Listen to episode 545 of the Inspirational Living Podcast: Living Up to Every Day’s Possibilities. Edited and adapted from The Power of Truth by William George Jordan.
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*Inspirational Podcast Excerpt* : If we would make our lives worthy of us, grand and noble, solid and impregnable, we must forsake air-castles of dreaming for strongholds of doing. Every person with an ideal has a right to live in the glow and inspiration of it, and to picture the joy of attainment, but the worker should never really worry about the future, think little of it except for inspiration. You should determine your course, as mariners study the stars; then make your plans wisely and prepare for that future by making each separate day the best and truest that you can.
Live up to the fullness of your possibilities each day. You have only one day of life — today. You did live yesterday, you may live tomorrow, but you have only today.
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Jan 26, 2021
The Nature & Power of the Mind | James Allen
Listen to episode 544 of the Inspirational Living Podcast: The Nature & Power of the Mind. Edited and adapted from Out From the Heart by James Allen.
*Inspirational Podcast Excerpt* : Your life proceeds from your heart and mind. You have compounded that mind by your own thoughts and deeds. It is within your power to refashion that mind by your choice of thought. And in this manner, you can transform your life.
To begin, remember that every established mental condition is an acquired habit, and it has become so by continuous repetition of thought. Despondency and cheerfulness, anger and calmness, covetousness and generosity — indeed, all states of mind — are habits built up by choice, until they have become automatic. A thought constantly repeated, at last becomes a fixed habit of mind, and from such habits proceeds one’s life.
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Jan 21, 2021
Finding Wisdom & Joy in Meditation | Happiness Podcasts
Listen to episode 543 of the Inspirational Living Podcast: Finding Wisdom & Joy in Meditation. Edited and adapted from The Mastery of Destiny by James Allen.
*Inspirational Podcast Excerpt* : By concentration we may acquire the wonderful comprehension and vast power of a Caesar; but by meditation we may reach the divine wisdom and perfect peace of a Buddha — for while the perfection of concentration is power, the perfection of meditation is wisdom.
By concentration, people acquire skill in the doing of the things of life (in science, art, trade, etc.), but by meditation, they acquire skill in life itself (in right living, enlightenment, wisdom, etc.) Saints, sages, saviors (wise women and men and divine teachers) are the finished products of spiritual meditation.
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Jan 19, 2021
Personal Salesmanship for a Life More Abundant
Listen to episode 542 of the Inspirational Living Podcast: Personal Salesmanship for a Life More Abundant. Edited and adapted from Success Psychology by Coleman Hall Bush.
*Inspirational Podcast Excerpt* : Let us enjoy life to the full, as we bring to ourselves the thrills, the pleasures, and the joys of “life more abundant” — which in turn will increase our personal power and success, for power is the energy that overcomes resistance and does constructive work. It is the ability which puts over business deals. It is impersonal, invisible, impartial, directive, receptive, neutral, and PRESENT always! It is up to us to sell it to ourselves and use it in selling to others.
Power is impersonal because it serves all who choose to use it. It is invisible, for while we can see the results of power, we never can see THE power — just as we may see the apple fall, but we cannot see the invisible power of gravitation that pulls it to earth. It is impartial, serving friend and foe, and…
Jan 14, 2021
Dare to Think Big | Planning for Greater Things
Listen to episode 541 of the Inspirational Living Podcast: Dare to Think Big | Planning for Greater Things. Edited and adapted from Three lectures on "The Laws of Financial Success" by B.F. Austin.
*Motivational Podcast Excerpt* : Financial success is won by those who dare to think big. Little thoughts, plans, and ideals beget little interest, little effort, little enthusiasm in the individual, and awaken little or no interest in the minds of others. The radical difference between the pop-corn vendor at the fair and the next Steve Jobs is in the size of their ideas and concepts. Popcorn ideas beget a popcorn life. Great ideas, projects, and enterprises rouse the soul of the individual to the effort, courage, and daring that is commensurate with grand ideas.
Great individuals cannot be approached with any project of a trifling character; time and mental force are too valuable to waste on things not "worthwhile." An entrepreneur should continually plan greater and still greater project…
Jan 12, 2021
Motivation for Conquering Defeat to Win Success
Listen to episode 540 of the Inspirational Living Podcast: Motivation for Conquering Defeat to Win Success. Edited and adapted from Spunk: How to Lick Fear by David V. Bush.
*Motivational Podcast Excerpt* : There is nothing but eternal victory for the person who can take defeat with smiling grace and a poised confidence in their ultimate triumph. Defeat is only another way of reaching one’s goal, and as a rule, the more defeats you have the greater will be your power in the end.
‘‘All the world’s a stage” and we are merely players. All life is a schoolroom where we learn our daily lessons, and the more obstacles we face in life’s lessons the more strength we shall have for accomplishing ultimate success.
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Jan 7, 2021
Building the Character to Win Life's Battles
Listen to episode 539 of the Inspirational Living Podcast: Building a Character to Win Life’s Battles. Edited and adapted from Young People’s Problems by J.R. Miller.
*Inspirational Podcast Excerpt* : Welcome to the Inspirational Living podcast. Don’t forget that you can help inspire others by sharing your favorite episodes on Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn. Thank you. Today’s reading was edited and adapted from Young People’s Problems by J.R. Miller, published in 1898.
This world is not a place merely to live in, nor a place only to do certain kinds of business. It is a great workshop in which to make women and men of character.
It is not easy for us to grow into a beautiful life and noble character. Sure, it’s not hard to take a lump of clay, and shape it into any form we desire. It’s fairly easy to take a piece of soft wood, and carve it into a figure of beauty. But it is harder to cut a block of marble into a form of loveliness, for the stone is hard. And it is har…
Jan 5, 2021
The Optimistic Mind | Positive Thinking Podcasts
Listen to episode 538 of the Inspirational Living Podcast: The Optimistic Mind | Positive Thinking Podcasts. Edited and adapted from the The Joy of Living by Orison Swett Marden.
*Inspirational Podcast Excerpt* : Welcome to the Inspirational Living podcast. If you or someone you know is looking to stop smoking or drinking this year, my break free meditations can help them quit for good. Learn more by visiting https://livinghour.org/breakfree. Today’s reading was edited and adapted from The Joy of Living by Orison Swett Marden, published in 1913.
An optimistic mind is a prism that brings the rainbow colors out of things which are invisible to the pessimist. This prism does not make the colors in the spectrum. They are everywhere in the light before our eyes. The light is made up of all the different colors of the rainbow. The prism merely separates them and makes them visible to the eye.
Every person should have an optimistic lens which can distinguish the uncommon in the common, w…
Dec 31, 2020
Counting Our Blessings | Happy New Year
Listen to episode 537 of the Inspirational Living Podcast: Counting Our Blessings | Happy New Year. Edited and adapted from The Pleasures of Life by Sir John Lubbock.
*Inspirational Podcast Excerpt* : Welcome to the Inspirational Living podcast. A special thanks to Aleyda, our newest monthly patron. A very much appreciate your financial support, which helps allow me to continue to spend the 50 hours a month or so that I do researching, editing, and producing this podcast. You can become a monthly patron for as little as a $1 a month by visiting LivingHour.org/patron ( https://livinghour.org/patron ).
Life must be measured by thought and action, not by time. It ought to be, bright, interesting, and happy. If we do our best; if we do not magnify trifling troubles; if we look resolutely at things as they really are; if we avail ourselves of the manifold blessings which surround us; we cannot but feel that life is indeed a glorious inheritance.
Few of us, however, realize the wonderful…
Dec 29, 2020
Mastering the Art of Life | Motivational Podcasts
Listen to episode 536 of the Inspirational Living Podcast: Mastering the Art of Life | Motivational Podcasts. Edited and adapted from The Joy of Living by Orison Swett Marden.
*Motivational Podcast Excerpt* : Welcome to the Inspirational Living podcast. I hope that you all had a wonderful Christmas and holiday season. Today’s reading was edited and adapted from The Joy of Living by Orison Swett Marden, published in 1913.
Is it not strange that while we ought to make a profession of living, most of us are not even amateurs in this art of arts? We never learn the business of real living. We become specialists in our profession or our business, but in right living (which makes or mars the happiness of life), we never become experts.
We know next to nothing about the human machine, which holds the secret of all our success and happiness. We pay much less attention to it than we do to our business mechanisms. The human machine is the only medium by which the soul and the mind connect w…
Dec 22, 2020
The Lord's Prayer for Daily Life | Free Book
Listen to episode 535 of the Inspirational Living Podcast: The Lord’s Prayer for Daily Life. Edited and adapted from the book by the same name.
*Inspirational Podcast Excerpt* : Welcome to the Inspirational Living podcast. As this is Christmas week, I thought today might be a good time to share with you a reading from one of the chapters of my own book The Lord’s Prayer for Daily Life, which explores the meaning of the prayer that Jesus taught his disciples. I’ll be reading from Chapter 7 of the book, where I discuss the meaning of Our Daily Bread. You can read the entire book online for free by visiting LivingHour.org/prayer ( https://livinghour.org/prayer ).
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Dec 17, 2020
Rising to the Summit of Life | Motivational Podcasts
Listen to episode 534 of the Inspirational Living Podcast: Rising to the Summit of Life | Motivation Podcasts. Edited and adapted from Personal Power by Keith J. Thomas.
*Motivational Podcast Excerpt* : Welcome to the Inspirational Living podcast. A special thanks to Mr. Hamilton, our newest patron. You too can become our monthly patron for as little as 3$ a month to gain access to full transcripts, our entire archive of over 500 podcasts, and more. Go to livinghour.org/patron ( https://livinghour.org/patron ). Thank you.
Today’s reading was edited and adapted from Personal Power by Keith J. Thomas, published in 1917.
In work well done, there is a satisfaction which is the greatest reward of labor. The sense of achievement is at once a payment and a promise. It compensates you for the toil and drudgery. And it stimulates you with such a sense of power that your ambition seems nearer to realization. Those who plod on day by day, following well-defined roads and making no excursions…
Dec 15, 2020
How to Be a Continuous Success in Life
Listen to episode 533 of the Inspirational Living Podcast: How to Be Continually Successful in Life. Edited and adapted from Personal Power by Keith J. Thomas.
*Motivational Podcast Excerpt* : Only the work that calls for original, creative thought brings you into the limelight, and endows you with the responsibilities that lead you to the heights of your profession. Think for yourself. Decide for yourself the method of life and work which will best accord with your own tastes, temperament, and abilities.
All the great women and men of the world have been mentally free. They were not bound by standards. They made standards by which other people judge themselves. If Columbus or Isaac Newton had bound themselves by the standards of their contemporaries, would the world have been the better for their having lived? No. Because they were mentally free, and because they acted and spoke and worked according to their own thoughts, they succeeded in their missions, and we feel their influence…
Dec 10, 2020
How Mistakes Lead to Greater Wisdom & Living
Listen to episode 532 of the Inspirational Living podcast: How Mistakes Lead to Greater Wisdom & Living. Adapted from The Power of Purpose by William George Jordan.
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*Motivational Podcast Excerp* t: 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.
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Dec 8, 2020
Thoughtfulness & Living a Life of Love
Listen to episode 531 of the Inspirational Living Podcast: Thoughtfulness & Living a Loving Life. Edited and adapted from Young People’s Problems by J.R. Miller.
*Inspirational Podcast Excerpt* : One of the finest things in a complete, well-rounded character is thoughtfulness. It gives a wondrous charm to your life. It makes you a benediction wherever you go. It tempers all your conduct, softening all natural harshness into gentleness, and giving to your every word and act, and to all your bearing, a spirit of kindliness.
A thoughtful person does not have to be asked to help others — they help, as it were, instinctively. They are ever ready to do the obliging thing, to say the encouraging word, to show an interest in the life of others, to perform those countless little kindnesses which so brighten the common pathway.
The thoughtful person does not make their life an offence or irritation to others. They never meddle with other people’s affairs, but respects the individuality…
Dec 3, 2020
Values for Climbing the Hill of Life | Motivationals
Listen to episode 530 of the Inspirational Living Podcast: Values for Climbing the Hill of Life. Edited and adapted from Making the Grade by C.V. Mosby.
*Motivational Podcast Excerpt* : There is both a science and an art in the correct estimation of values. It takes training and mature judgment to pick the false from the true. And there is a fine art in the application of values to the things in life that are worthwhile. It is easy for us to fall into the error of thinking values are relative. Perspectives of value may indeed vary, but the inherent value remains. And the value of those things in life that assist in making the grade remain fixed and definite.
The value of patience, imagination, self-confidence, health, truth, and honesty of purpose remains the same, and will always be fixed and definite. It makes no difference what your estimation of them may be. A yardstick measures thirty-six inches. If one looks at a string that is thirty-six inches in length and says that it is on…
Dec 1, 2020
The Courage & Patience to Achieve Success
Listen to episode 529 of the Inspirational Living Podcast: The Courage & Patience to Achieve Success. Edited and adapted from Making the Grade by C.V. Mosby.
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*Inspirational Podcast Excerpt* : Patience means more than being able to stick to a task until it is finished. It means having a philosophy that makes one understand that it is continuous, well-directed efforts that win. Furthermore, patience must have an imaginative eye that sees the completed task and pronounces it well done.
A mule can plod up and down the field. It makes no difference to the mule whether cotton or weeds are being plowed, but the farmer would have little patience if they did not feel that they would harvest more than a crop of weeds.
To be patient, to keep plugging along, to keep climbing the hill, you must be inspired by, and buoyed up with, the hope of reaching the top. It is not pa…
Nov 26, 2020
The Power of the Spoken Word | Public Speaking
Listen to episode 528 of the Inspirational Living Podcast: The Power of the Spoken Word. Edited and adapted from Personal Power by Keith J. Thomas.
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*Inspirational Podcast Excerpt* : THE spoken word is the most powerful weapon you can command in your dealings with others. In conjunction with the eye, it conveys all your personal magnetism to the listener. The eye has a double use. It conveys impressions *to* the brain, and it conveys impressions *from* the brain. Both of these uses need cultivation.
You probably have never thought about the importance of your eyes in conversation, but if you are to make full use of your mental powers, it is quite necessary to do so. You need to cultivate a concentration of gaze, but not quite in the sense that a hypnotist does. I have heard people complain of others who gazed at them so fixedly that it made them feel uncomfortable. D…
Nov 24, 2020
How to Manufacture the Key to Success
Listen to episode 527 of the Inspirational Living Podcast: How to Manufacture the Key to Success. Edited and adapted from The Cause of Failure and How to Overcome It by Thomas Z. Davis.
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*Motivational Podcast Excerpt* : A great sculptor noticed a stone that had been rejected and thrown aside by the builders. In the stone he saw a beautiful angel. He chiseled the stone away and revealed the angel to the world. I want, if I can, to get you to look into the future and see yourself as a beautiful, successful character, and after getting the vision, reveal that character to the world.
Only through the hard gates where struggle gives her challenge and adversity demands her toll, is there an entrance to the valleys of achievement and the kingdoms of delight. Be true to yourself, be true to your friends, be true to the world. Think of yourself as on the threshold of un…
Nov 19, 2020
How to Make Your Life Marvelous
Listen to episode 526 of the Inspirational Living Podcast: How to Make Your Life Marvelous | Motivation. Edited and adapted from Personal Power by Keith J. Thomas.
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*Motivational Podcast Excerpt* : Put the joy of creation into everything you do. Let it be worthy of your mind, and let it be done as perfectly as you can do it. If your employers cannot use you to better advantage, fit yourself for more congenial work elsewhere. It is your own fault if you complain: the remedy is always in your own hands. Complaints are signs of weakness, and if you are in a chronic state of dissatisfaction, words will avail nothing. Only by your own actions can you alter your own condition of life. If you are busy complaining when you ought to be busily acting, you are likely to complain until the end of the chapter.
How can you enjoy your leisure, if your mind is brooding over your gri…
Nov 17, 2020
Answering the Riddle of Life | Personal Power
Listen to episode 525 of the Inspirational Living Podcast: Answering the Riddle of Life. Edited and adapted from Personal Power by Keith J. Thomas.
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*Inspirational Podcast Excerpt* : Be sure that whatever troubles come to you, if you face them with courage, they will pass by as the idle wind, and leave behind the prosperity of which they are only the harbingers. Everyone who has faced sorrow and disaster, who has come through the fires of adversity, knows well from their own experience that for every trouble life can bring, there is some greater compensating advantage.
It is true that “All things work together for good.” The snows of winter serve to warm the earth and protect the seeds that bring forth the glorious blooms of summer. All through Nature and all through life we see that the things which are gloomy and unpleasant inevitably develop into brightn…
Nov 12, 2020
The Heroism of Daily Life | Inspirational Life Lessons
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.
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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…
Nov 10, 2020
Overcoming Hurry, Worry, and Irritability | Motivation
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.
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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…
Nov 5, 2020
Inspiring Thoughts for Self-Development & Self-Growth
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.
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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…
Nov 3, 2020
Becoming Rich in Knowledge & Wisdom | Education
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 muc…
Oct 29, 2020
The Grand Secrets of Success | Self-Reliance
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 ( https://www.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…
Oct 27, 2020
Success Habits & The Character That Triumphs
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 ( https://www.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…
Oct 22, 2020
Inspirational Life Lessons on Happiness
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 ( https://www.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…
Oct 20, 2020
Vitality: Building a Healthy, Energetic Personality
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.
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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…
Oct 15, 2020
Success Mindset: A Sense of Humor & Laughter
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…
Oct 13, 2020
Mental & Physical Fitness for Success in Life
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…
Oct 8, 2020
Making the Most of Yourself | Mind Power
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 take 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 make 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…
Oct 6, 2020
Making the Most Out of the Day | Motivational
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…
Oct 1, 2020
The Greatness of Little Things | Success Mindset
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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 seek…
Sep 29, 2020
The Key that Unlocks the Heart | Life Lessons
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 ( https://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…
Sep 24, 2020
How to Create Good Luck | Success Tips
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 ( https://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!…
Sep 22, 2020
Breathing for Vitality & Success | Healthy Living
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, yo…
Sep 17, 2020
Taking Stock of Yourself & Your Future | Motivation
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.
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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…
Sep 15, 2020
Fine Tuning the Vibrations of Your Life | Happiness
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 oth…
Sep 10, 2020
Developing a Grander Vision of Life | Inspirational
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 ( https://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…
Sep 8, 2020
Taking Control of Your Life & Destiny | Motivation
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 incr…
Sep 3, 2020
Believe in Yourself | Self-Confidence & Enthusiasm
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.
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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…
Sep 1, 2020
Inspirational Thoughts on Happiness
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 ( https://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, thu…
Aug 27, 2020
Using Wealth to Bring Out the Best Within You
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.
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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 sustena…
Aug 25, 2020
Growing Better from Good Criticism | Self-Growth
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…
Aug 20, 2020
Reducing the Friction of Life | Healthy Mindset
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 ( https://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 ind…
Aug 18, 2020
Motivation for the Enthusiastic Life | Personal Growth
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.
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Get the course now while it is on sale by visiting LivingHour.org/reading ( https://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 n…
Aug 13, 2020
The Sun Dial's Motto | Positive Thinking Podcasts
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…
Aug 11, 2020
Overcoming the Poverty Mindset | Law of Abundance
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 ( https://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 n…
Aug 6, 2020
Learning How to See Our Beautiful World
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 ( https://livinghour.org/patron ). Thank you.
Today’s reading was edited and adapted from Personal Power by Keith J. Thomas…
Aug 4, 2020
Overcoming a Fear of Failure | Success Talks
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 ( https://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 compa…
Jul 30, 2020
Becoming a Great Soul | Inspirational Life Lessons
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 ( https://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 Logi…
Jul 28, 2020
Being the Victor & Not the Victim of Circumstance
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 ( https://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 ar…
Jul 23, 2020
Motivation for Making the World a Better Place
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…
Jul 21, 2020
The Royal Road to Happiness | William George Jordan
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 ( https://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 n…
Jul 16, 2020
Optimism & The Keys to Happiness | Self-Help Podcasts
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 ( https://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; t…
Jul 14, 2020
Climbing the Ladder of Success | Inspirational Podcasts
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 ( https://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 mot…
Jul 9, 2020
Motivation for Patience & Perservance | Self-Development
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 Genera…
Jul 7, 2020
Motivation for Personal Power | Keith J. Thomas
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 ( https://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; i…
Jul 2, 2020
Success, Education, and The School of Life
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…
Jun 30, 2020
Taking Control of Your Mind & Body | Health Podcasts
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 ( https://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? An…
Jun 25, 2020
How to Overcome Fear | Courageous Living
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 ( https://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 pove…
Jun 23, 2020
The 3 Great Pillars of Success and Happiness
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 ( https://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 t…
Jun 18, 2020
Cheerfulness & The Wheel of Life | Uplifting Podcasts
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 ( https://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 rust…
Jun 16, 2020
We are the Master of Ourselves and Our Fate
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 i…
Jun 11, 2020
Developing a Great and Powerful Personality
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…
Jun 9, 2020
The Wealth & Greatness Within You | Uplifting Podcasts
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. Y…
Jun 4, 2020
Courage, Self-Mastery & Rising Above Our Failures
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, tha…
Jun 2, 2020
Finding Yourself | Living Up to Your Potential
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…
May 28, 2020
Getting a Right Start Each and Every Day | Motivational
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…
May 26, 2020
How to Strengthen Your Will Power | Motivation
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 ( https://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 positiv…
May 21, 2020
The Meaning of Money & How to Use It for Success
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 am…
May 19, 2020
Couch to 5K Motivation for Running C25K | Runners High
Listen to episode 476 of the Inspirational Living podcast: C25K Motivation for Running Couch to 5K | Runners High. Including motivational and uplifting quotes on running.
Podcast Transcript: Welcome to the Inspirational Living podcast. The topic of today’s podcast is a little different. While I occasionally mention the importance of exercise and having a fit body, most of the time I talk about life lessons and success habits unrelated to fitness.
But not today. Today we are going to talk about running, because around 8 weeks ago I decided that I was going to take up running for the first time. While I played a lot of sports in my youth, I always hated running. But now at the age of 52, not having done any regular, aerobic exercise in many years, I decided to start running, AND that I was going to enjoy it. Not only that, I set a goal for myself of running a 10.5K mini-marathon by the end of the year.
I downloaded the free C25K app ( https://apps.apple.com/us/app/c25k-5k-trainer/id…
May 14, 2020
Personal Character: The Crown & Glory of Life
Listen to episode 475 of the Inspirational Living podcast: Personal Character: The Crown & Glory of Life. Edited and adapted from How to Get On in the World by Major A.R. Calhoun.
Inspirational Podcast Excerpt: Welcome to the Inspirational Living podcast. To make a one-time donation to our podcast, please visit LivingHour.org/donate ( https://livinghour.org/donate ). Today’s reading was edited and adapted from. How to Get On in the World by Major A.R. Calhoun, published in 1895.
The crown and glory of life is Character. It is the noblest possession of the individual, constituting a rank in itself and an estate in the general good-will. Character dignifies every station, and exalts every position in society. It exercises a greater power than wealth, and secures all honor without the jealousies of fame. It carries with it an influence which always tells, for it is the result of proven honor, rectitude, and consistency — qualities which, perhaps, more than any other, command the gen…
May 12, 2020
Courage, Persistence & The Energetic Life | Motivation
Listen to episode 474 of the Inspirational Living podcast: Courage, Persistence & The Energetic Life. Edited and adapted from How to Get On in the World by Major A.R. Calhoun.
Inspirational Podcast Excerpt: Thomas Carlyle said that the first requisite to success is carefully to find your life work and then bravely carry it out. No soldier who won a succession of triumphs, nor business person who reached the top, did not find their beginning slow, arduous, and discouraging.
Courage is a prime essential to prosperity. Your progress may be slow in comparison with your ambition, but if you keep a brave heart and stick persistently to it, you will surely succeed in the end.
The forceful, energetic character, like the forceful soldier on the battle-field, not only moves forward to victory themselves, but their example has a stimulating influence on others.
Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/inspirational-living/donations
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May 7, 2020
Gaining Freedom from Worry, Fear & Hatred
Listen to episode 473 of the Inspirational Living podcast: Gaining Freedom from Worry, Fear, Hatred & Suspicion. Edited and adapted from Youth and Opportunity by Thomas Tapper.
Inspirational Podcast Excerpt: Welcome to the Inspirational Living podcast. A special thanks to Jesse-Rodriguez-Wood for upgrading his patronage level. We have various patron levels for our podcast, each of which comes with its own unique rewards. To learn more, please visit, LivingHour.org/patron ( https://livinghour.org/patron ). Thank you.
Today’s reading was edited and adapted from Youth and Opportunity by Thomas Tapper, published in 1912.
When our tongues are tied we cannot speak; when our hands are tied we cannot labor; when our feet are tied we cannot travel. If we lived under a tyrant who, with little warning, tied our tongue, hands, and feet, and made us helpless, we should rebel and fight for freedom. And yet we live under just such a tyrant; or, rather, a family of tyrants, who not only tie our t…
May 5, 2020
Vitality & The Conduct of Life - Success Assured
Listen to episode 472 of the Inspirational Living podcast: What You Ask for You Will get. Edited and adapted from Youth and Opportunity by Thomas Tapper.
Inspirational Podcast Excerpt: Welcome to the Inspirational Living podcast. Get the best of our podcast in book form by visiting InspirationalLifeLessons.com ( /inspirationalliving/episode/InspirationalLifeLessons.com ). Today’s reading was edited and adapted from Youth and Opportunity by Thomas Tapper, published in 1912.
There is an old expression coined by J.P. Morgan which says: "It is impossible to unscramble an egg." The logic of the statement is this: With an egg in hand, be sure you know what you want to do with it before you break the shell — for once the shell is broken, it is impossible again to restore it to wholeness. Exactly the same statement is true of life.
It is impossible to unscramble life. Hence, with life before us, we must be reasonably sure of the use we wish to make of it before we break the shell, but w…
Apr 30, 2020
What You Ask for You Will Get | Inspiring Talks
Listen to episode 471 of the Inspirational Living podcast: What You Ask for You Will Get. Edited and adapted from The Open Door by Hugh Black.
Inspiring Podcast Excerpt: Welcome to the Inspirational Living podcast. A special thank you to our newest patron Letitia Worthy. Your monthly financial support helps me a lot in being able to continue this podcast. To learn how you can become my patron and get access to our full archive of podcasts, plus transcripts, please visit LivingHour.org/patron ( https://livinghour.org/patron ). Thank you.
Today’s reading was edited and adapted from The Open Door by Hugh Black, published in 1914.
Always remember that what you request is given to you, and what you really will in your heart you attain. Life comes and says calmly and confidently, "Ask what I shall give you," and the door opens out into the place of your asking.
I know that this may seem at first an absurd statement that what we seek we find, and where we knock it is opened to us, but i…
Apr 28, 2020
The Importance of a Youthful Spirit | Non-Conformists
Listen to episode 470 of the Inspirational Living podcast: The Importance of a Youthful Spirit | Non-Conformists. Edited and adapted from The Open Door by Hugh Black.
Inspirational Podcast Excerpt: Welcome to the Inspirational Living podcast. Don’t forget to follow us on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram, and (if you are felling inspired) leaving us a positive review at the iTunes store is always greatly appreciated. Thank you.
Today’s reading was edited and adapted from The Open Door by Hugh Black, published in 1914.
Youth stands at the magic door of life. It never remains the same, but seems to alter with each person. This is not strange, since youth itself does not stay the same. We speak of youth as if it were always of one texture and color, whereas it is a time of chaotic contradictions.
We talk of the hopefulness of youth, which is true enough, and yet some have known a childhood full of bitter despair never again equaled. We call it a time of impractical radicalism, and y…
Apr 23, 2020
The Happy Life: Love, Hope & Friendship
Listen to episode 469 of the Inspirational Living podcast: The Happy Life: Love, Hope & Friendship. Edited and adapted from The True Source of a Happy Life by Hugh Wayt.
Happiness Podcast Excerpt: Welcome to the Inspirational Living podcast. Get the best essays from our podcast in heirloom hardcover by visiting the website InspirationalLifeLessons.com ( https://inspirationallifelessons.com ). Today’s reading was edited and adapted from The True Source of a Happy Life by Hugh Wayt, published in 1909.
Those who would be happy must love. Not only parents, children, and friends; but unlovable people too. Love gives us the disposition to suffer long and still be kind — to see others with talent and riches surpassing ours and not envy them. It keeps us from boasting of our personal possessions and attainments.
Love makes us humble. It helps us to bear ourselves gently toward others. It makes us protective of the rights of others, as well as our own. It keeps us from being provoked by…
Apr 21, 2020
The True Sources of Genuiness Happiness & Joy
Listen to episode 468 of the Inspirational Living podcast: The True Sources of Genuine Happiness. Edited and adapted from The True Source of a Happy Life by Hugh Wayt.
Today's Sponsor: Personal Revolution - Ready for your own Personal Revolution? Listen to all episodes of the Personal Revolution podcast here: https://www.himalaya.com/revolution1
Inspirational Podcast Excerpt: Greatness of mind and heart will give us the spirit to do and bear great things. It endures trials without sinking beneath them, stands face to face with danger and death without flinching, can smile favorably on the face of a foe, and rejoice in a competitor's success. It is calm under great provocations and endures unmoved both perils and privations for the sake of great principles and the common good.
True magnanimity consists of personal worth. One may be truly magnanimous and recognized as such, and at the same time be destitute of learning, scholarship, office, or rank. Such nobility, or largeness of life…
Apr 16, 2020
Self-Control: Letting Go of Anger, Hatred & Irritability
Listen to episode 467 of the Inspirational Living podcast: Self-Control: Letting Go of Anger, Hatred & Irritability. Edited and adapted from The Freedom of Life by Annie Payson Call.
Inspirational Podcast Excerpt: Welcome to the Inspirational Living podcast. To get access to full transcripts and over 150 additional podcasts from our archive, please become our patron today by visiting LivingHour.org/patron ( https://livinghour.org/patron ). Thank you. Today’s reading was edited and adapted from The Freedom of Life by Annie Payson Call, published in 1905.
To most people self-control means the control of appearances and not the control of realities. This is a radical mistake, and must be corrected if we are to get a clear idea of self-control, and if we are to make a fair start in acquiring it as a permanent habit.
You are what you are by virtue of your own motives of thought and action, by virtue of what your mind is, what your will is, and what you are in the resultant combination…
Apr 14, 2020
Self-Improvement Tools: Tolerance & Acceptance
Listen to episode 466 of the Inspirational Living podcast: Self-Improvement Tools: Tolerance & Acceptance. Edited and adapted from The Power of Truth by William George Jordan.
Today's Sponsor: Personal Revolution - Ready for your own Personal Revolution? Listen to all episodes of the Personal Revolution podcast here: https://www.himalaya.com/revolution1
Self-Improvement Podcast Excerpt: Intolerance is part of the unnecessary friction of life. It is prejudice on the war-path. Intolerance acknowledges only one side of any question — its own. It is a monopoly in thinking: the attitude of a person who believes they have a corner on wisdom and truth.
Tolerance, on the other hand, is a calm, generous respect for the opinions of others, even one's enemies. It recognizes the right of every person to think their own thoughts, to live their own life, to be themselves in all things, so long as it does not run counter to the rights of others. It means giving to others the same freedom that we…
Apr 9, 2020
The Meaning of Education | Booker T. Washington
Listen to episode 465 of the Inspirational Living podcast: The Meaning of Education. Edited and adapted from Character Building by Booker T. Washington.
Inspirational Podcast Excerpt: Welcome to the Inspirational Living podcast. If you would like to help support the continuation of this podcast with a one-time financial donation, please visit LivingHour.org/donate ( https://livinghour.org/donate ). Thank you. Today’s reading was edited and adapted from Booker T. Washington’s book Character Building, which is a collection of Sunday evening talks he delivered to the students of the Tuskegee Institute, the first institution of higher education for African Americans. The book was published in 1902.
It may seem to some of you that I am continually talking to you about education — the right kind of education, how to get an education, and such kindred subjects — but surely no subject could be more pertinent, since the object for which you all are here is to get an education; and if…
Apr 7, 2020
The Eternal Soul | Life After Death | Spirituality
Listen to episode 464 of the Inspirational Living Podcast: The Eternal Soul | Life After Death. Edited and adapted from Growth in Silence, the Undertone of Life by Susanna Cocroft.
Spirituality Podcast Excerpt: Welcome to the Inspirational Living podcast. If you enjoy our podcast, please help us spread the word by sharing your favorite episodes on Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn. Thank you. Today’s reading was edited and adapted from Growth in Silence, the Undertone of Life by Susanna Cocroft, published in 1917.
High ideals and lofty sentiments, with the mind and heart alert for new light (fresh thoughts to weave into new pictures), keep the heart, brain, and body young and strong. There is no senility in progress. We do not (quote) "grow old." Age comes with the cessation of effort, in letting go. So long as we keep growing, we are young — new cells are being born. We are the chemical laboratories of life; and cheerful thoughts give inspiration to life's building.
Age is not mea…
Apr 2, 2020
Self-Growth by Giving & Doing: Self-Development Podcasts
Listen to episode 463 of the Inspirational Living Podcast: Self-Growth by Giving & Doing | Self-Development Podcasts. Edited and adapted from Growth in Silence, the Undertone of Life by Susanna Cocroft.
Self-Help Podcast Excerpt: Welcome to the Inspirational Living podcast. So many of you have taken advantage of our self-growth package that I’ve decided to extend the special for another week. Once again, what you’ll be receiving in this package is all 3 of our life lesson e-books, which feature 150 of the most popular inspirational essays that I’ve read on this podcast, as well as our MAJESTY meditation, our Ocean Sounds sleep meditation with positive affirmations, and all 3 of our Break Free from Addiction meditations.
You can get all of these e-books and meditations bundled together, right now, for only $9. Get your self-growth package by visiting LivingHour.org/special ( https://livinghour.org/special ). Thank you.
Today’s reading was edited and adapted from Growth in Sil…
Mar 31, 2020
The Quiet Power of Nature Within You | Literary Podcasts
Listen to episode 462 of the Inspirational Living Podcast: The Quiet Power of Nature Within You. Edited and adapted from The Power of Repose by Annie Payson Call.
Inspirational Podcast Transcript: Welcome to the Inspirational Living podcast. I’d like to start today by telling you about a teaching resource that I have available online. It’s a reading comprehension course that I created for elementary and middle school students, as well as students of English as a Second Language. This fun, quiz-based course not only helps improve reading comprehension. It also boosts knowledge in the humanities, arts, and sciences.
It’s available at Udemy, who is now offering the course for only $10.99, which is 69% off the regular price. Learn more by going to LivingHour.org/reading ( https://livinghour.org/reading ). And if your friends have children, please share it with them too. Thank you.
Today’s reading was edited and adapted from The Power of Repose by Annie Payson Call, published in…
Mar 26, 2020
Mastering Your Circumstances | Self-Help Podcasts
Listen to episode 461 of the Inspirational Living Podcast: Motivation for Mastering Your Circumstances. Edited and adapted from The Freedom of Life by Annie Payson Call.
Motivational Podcast Transcript: Welcome to the Inspirational Living podcast. I know that many of you are isolating at home now and wondering how to pass the time. Not surprisingly, my advice is to focus on self-growth. And if you need some tools, I’ve decided to offer all of our e-books and meditations for only $9. You’ll get all 3 of our life lesson books, plus our MAJESTY mediation, our Positive Affirmations Sleep Meditation, and our break-free from addiction meditations. Get this special package now by going to LivingHour.org/special ( https://livinghour.org/special ). This $9 deal will only be available for a few days, so go now to LivingHour.org/special ( https://livinghour.org/special ). Thank you.
Today’s reading was edited and adapted from The Freedom of Life by Annie Payson Call, published in 1905.
I…
Mar 24, 2020
The Life of Freedom | Overcoming Self-Consciousness
Listen to episode 460 of the Inspirational Living Podcast: The Life of Freedom | Overcoming Self-Consciousness. Edited and adapted from The Freedom of Life by Annie Payson Call.
Inspirational Podcast Excerpt: Self-consciousness may be truly defined as a person's inability to get out of their own way. There are, however, some people who are so entirely self-conscious that don’t even realize it. They are so completely in bondage to themselves that they have no glimpse of the possibility of freedom, and therefore this bondage is pleasant to them.
With these people there is nothing to do. It is only those who have begun to realize their bondage that can take any steps toward freedom. The self-satisfied slaves must stay in prison until they see where they are. It is both curious and sad to see them rejoicing in their bondage and miscalling it freedom. Indeed, it makes one long to see them struck by an emergency, bringing a flash of that inner light which is often the beginning of a new…
Mar 19, 2020
Inspiration for a Larger, Richer, More Beautiful Life
Listen to episode 459 of the Inspirational Living Podcast: Inspiration for a Larger, Richer, More Beautiful Life. Edited and adapted from The Pathway of Roses by Christian D. Larson.
Inspirational Podcast Excerpt: The mind that lives in doubt can see limitations everywhere. The mind that lives in faith can see no limitations, and, in fact, knows that there are no limitations anywhere. The mind that lives in doubt is in bondage to these seeming limitations, and therefore realizes nothing more of life than what is confined within these seeming limitations. But the mind that lives in faith, lives in the freedom of the all of life, and is daily realizing more and more of everything that is contained in the all of life.
Faith can see that no matter how large or beautiful life may be now, there is always a larger and a more beautiful life to live for, to work for, and to realize in the days that are near at hand. In a life of faith, there is no end to anything; there is always something mo…
Mar 17, 2020
The Faith that Moves Mountains | Spiritual Power
Listen to episode 458 of the Inspirational Living Podcast: The Faith that Moves Mountains | Spiritual Power. Edited and adapted from The Pathway of Roses by Christian D. Larson.
Inspirational Podcast Excerpt: Welcome to the Inspirational Living podcast. If you find yourself stuck at home these days, now is a great time to work on building a lifelong positive mindset that will keep you joyful and usher you through any difficulty in life. Listening to our podcast is one good thing to do, but to revisit our podcasts and also read the inspirational essays is a powerful practice, too. Gain access to over 450 of our essay transcripts by simply becoming our monthly patron. You can do so for as little as $3 a month. Learn more by visiting LivingHour.org/patron ( https://livinghour.org/patron ). Thank you.
Today’s reading was edited and adapted from The Pathway of Roses by Christian D. Larson, published in 1912.
To the person who has faith nothing is impossible. It matters not what you may…
Mar 12, 2020
Developing Vision & Perspective | Happiness Podcasts
Listen to episode 457 of the Inspirational Living Podcast: Developing Vision and Perspective. Edited and adapted from The Pursuit of Happiness by George Hodges.
Inspirational Podcast Excerpt: Welcome to the Inspirational Living podcast. To get the best of our podcast in heirloom hardcover or digital e-book, please visit InspirationalLifeLessons.com ( https://inspirationallifelessons.com ). Today’s reading was edited and adapted from The Pursuit of Happiness by George Hodges, published in 1906.
Last time, I talked with you about determination and regulation as helps to happiness. The 3rd quality which will assist you to be happy is Proportion. By proportion I mean a true perspective. Proportion ministers to happiness because it restrains us from the exaggeration of excitement. They who lack it are like newspapers which have used up all their biggest type on screaming bulletins of petty fights and hysterical gossip, and have nothing larger for a battle which is determining the destin…
Mar 10, 2020
Secrets to the Pursuit of Happiness | Life Lessons
Listen to episode 456 of the Inspirational Living Podcast: Secrets to the Pursuit of Happiness. Edited and adapted from The Pursuit of Happiness by George Hodges.
Inspirational Podcast Excerpt: Welcome to the Inspirational Living podcast. A special thanks to our newest monthly patron, Samuel Wallace. To learn how you can become our monthly patron and gain access to our entire archive of over 450 podcasts, plus transcripts, delivered right into your smart phone, please visit LivingHour.org/patron ( https://livinghour.org/patron ). Thank you.
Today’s reading was edited and adapted from The Pursuit of Happiness by George Hodges, published in 1906.
Today I would like to talk with you about certain helps to happiness. The first is Determination. And by that I mean the will to be happy — for happiness is largely an interior matter. It is subjective; it does not depend on any particular environment, but depends solely upon our relation to the great currents of life. If we resist, there…
Mar 5, 2020
The Power of Being Bold & Decisive | Motivation
Listen to episode 455 of the Inspirational Living Podcast: The Power of Being Bold & Decisive. Edited and adapted from Pushing to the Front by Orison Swett Marden.
Motivational Podcast Excerpt: The women and men who have left a mark upon their century have been the ones of great and prompt decision. An undecided person, a person who is ever balancing between two opinions, forever debating which of two courses they will pursue, proclaims by their indecision that they cannot control themselves, that they were meant to be possessed by others. They are not in the arena, but in the stands.
The individual of decision, of prompt action, does not wait for favorable circumstances. They do not submit to events; events must submit to them.
The vacillating woman and man is ever at the mercy of the opinion of the person who talked with them last. They may see the right, but they drift toward the wrong. If they decide upon a course, they only follow it until somebody opposes it.
Visit our sponso…
Mar 3, 2020
The Art of Conversation | Inspirational Podcast Tips
Listen to episode 454 of the Inspirational Living Podcast: The Art of Conversation | Inspirational Podcast Tips. Edited and adapted from Pushing to the Front by Orison Swett Marden.
Inspirational Podcast Excerpt: To be a good conversationalist — to able to interest people, rivet their attention, draw them to you naturally by the very superiority of your conversational ability — is a great accomplishment, one that is superior to all others. It not only helps you to make a good impression upon strangers, it also helps you to make and keep friends. It opens doors and softens hearts. It makes you interesting in all sorts of company. It helps you to get on in the world. It sends you clients, patients, customers. It helps you into the best society of your peers.
A person who can talk well, who has the art of putting things in an attractive way, who can interest others immediately by their power of speech, has a great advantage over one who may know more than them, but who cannot expres…
Feb 27, 2020
Success is Seldom Accidental | Opportunities & Challenges
Listen to episode 453 of the Inspirational Living Podcast: Success is Seldom Accidental | Your Opportunities. 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. A special thanks to our newest patron Mike Duquette. By becoming our patron, Mike now has access to more than 150 podcasts from the archive no longer publically available, as well as full transcripts to every episode, and the exclusive weekly series Our Sunday Talks. You too can gain access to all these benefits for as little as $3 a month. Learn more by visiting LivingHour.org/patron ( https://livinghour.org/patron ).
Today’s reading was edited and adapted from. How to Get On in the World by Major A.R. Calhoun, published in 1895.
A person may leap into sudden fortune at a bound, and without effort or foresight, but it is doubtful if any great permanent success ever was the outcome of blind chance.
The old adage, "Trust to lu…
Feb 25, 2020
What is Success? | Self-Improvement Podcasts
Listen to episode 452 of the Inspirational Living Podcast: What is Success? | Being Truly Successful. 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 our podcast has been a help to you, please let us know by writing a short review of our podcast on iTunes or Google Play. 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.
It has been said that "Nothing Succeeds Like Success." But what is Success? If we consult the dictionaries, they will give us the etymology of this much used word, and in general terms, the meaning will be (quote) "the accomplishment of a purpose." But as the goals in nearly every life differ, success cannot mean the same thing to all people. The artist's idea of success is very different from that of the business person, and the scientist differs from both, as does the politician from all…
Feb 20, 2020
How to Face Life & Not Grow Old | Inspirational Aging
Listen to episode 451 of the Inspirational Living Podcast: How to Face Life & Not Grow Old. Edited and adapted from How to Face Life by Stephen Samuel Wise.
Inspirational Podcast Excerpt: Welcome to the Inspirational Living podcast. To support our podcast with a one-time financial donation, please visit LivingHour.org/donate ( https://livinghour.org/donate ). Thank you. Today’s reading was edited and adapted from How to Face Life by Stephen Samuel Wise, published in 1917.
OLD age depends largely upon our attitude toward the whole of life. Old age is not a joke, nor a bore, nor a trial, nor a calamity, though it may be any one of these, as all of life may be. What needs to be stressed is that old age has no content in itself apart from the whole of life. Little can come to old age that was not in and throughout life.
Age, like happiness, is neither to be sought nor evaded. It is a by-product of life rather than life's end. Not the aim nor goal of life, but the way of life must it b…
Feb 18, 2020
Building Health, Energy & Personality | Charles Atlas
Listen to episode 450 of the Inspirational Living Podcast: Building Health, Energy & Personality. Edited and adapted from the work of Charles Atlas.
Motivational Podcast Excerpt: Welcome to the Inspirational Living podcast. If you’re a fan of our podcast, don’t forget that our official Inspirational Living t-shirt is available at TeePublic. Shop now by visiting LivingHour.org/clothing ( https://livinghour.org/clothing ).
The very first essential thing to do in securing radiant health and physical strength is the deep breathing of pure, outside air. We can live without food for many weeks, without water for many days, but we cannot live without air for more than a few minutes.
Air is equally a food as fruits and vegetables. When it enters into the composition of the body, its value cannot be over emphasized. Yet because it is so cheap we often ignore its real value.
Remember that oxygen is LIFE! The more oxygen you breathe, the more health and strength you will get. This life-gi…
Feb 13, 2020
Living a Life of Sunshine & Success | Motivation Podcast
Listen to episode 449 of the Inspirational Living Podcast: Living a Life of Sunshine & Success. Edited and adapted from Making the Grade by C.V. Mosby.
Motivational Podcast Transcript: Welcome to the Inspirational Living podcast. To become our patron and gain access to over a hundred additional podcasts, please visit our Patreon page at LivingHour.org/patron. Thank you. Today’s reading was edited and adapted from Making the Grade by C.V. Mosby, published in 1917.
Sunshine is essential to life. Disease and crime breed and grow where there is darkness. A hopeless individual is already defeated. The poison has entered their soul and paralyzed their initiative. Pessimism has crowded the lower rungs of life's ladder and gives plenty of room to those who would go to the top.
All successful people are optimists. If they were not, they could not succeed. It is probable that some individuals who revel in pessimism have reached the top; but, like barnacles, they have ridden up fastened to t…
Feb 11, 2020
The Million Dollar Lecture Pt. 3 | Habits & Incentives
Listen to episode 448 of the Inspirational Living podcast: The Million Dollar Lecture Pt. 3 | Success Habits & Incentives. Edited and adapted from The Million Dollar Lecture by Professor Erwin Haskell Schell.
Motivational Podcast Excerpt: Welcome to the Inspirational Living podcast. If you enjoy our podcast, help us spread the word by sharing your favorite episode on Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn. Today’s reading was edited and adapted from The Million Dollar Lecture by Professor Erwin Haskell Schell, delivered to the 1920 graduating class of MIT.
When it comes to building good habits, don’t overlook the habit of success. Yes, there is such a thing. Make it a customary habit to surmount difficulties, even in little things. Perhaps the winning, in itself, will not be worth the effort, but in the strengthening of the habit, its value is immeasurable.
The world has a place for the women and men who finish that which they undertake. I wish that I could burn that point into your min…
Feb 6, 2020
The Million Dollar Lecture Pt. 2 | Free MIT Lectures
Listen to episode 447 of the Inspirational Living podcast: The Million Dollar Lecture Pt. 2 | Free MIT Lectures. Edited and adapted from The Million Dollar Lecture by Professor Erwin Haskell Schell.
Motivational Podcast Excerpt: Welcome to the Inspirational Living podcast. Get inspirational gifts and apparel by visiting BookofZen.com ( https://bookofzen.com ) , each item featuring one of my one original, thought-provoking sayings. Today’s reading was edited and adapted from The Million Dollar Lecture by Professor Erwin Haskell Schell, delivered to the 1920 graduating class of MIT.
Having talked with you about the importance of finding, making, and keeping friends, the next resource that I want to see upon the asset side of your personal balance sheet is ability in the art of cooperation. This is a characteristic in which the technically trained person is often found to be lamentably weak. But I think that the weakness may be readily explained and improved upon.
The scientific meth…
Feb 4, 2020
The Million Dollar Lecture Pt. 1 | MIT Lectures Online
Listen to episode 446 of the Inspirational Living podcast: The Million Dollar Lecture Pt. 1 | MIT Lectures Online. Edited and adapted from The Million Dollar Lecture by Professor Erwin Haskell Schell.
Inspirational Podcast Excerpt: Welcome to the Inspirational Living podcast. A special thanks to our new patron Clair Bilton. To learn how you can become our monthly patron for the price of a single latte a month, visit LivingHour.org/patron ( https://livinghour.org/patron ). Thank you.
Today’s reading was edited and adapted from The Million Dollar Lecture by Professor Erwin Haskell Schell, delivered to the 1920 graduating class of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
In this lecture I am going to lay down some rules of conduct which I am confident will reward each of you with 10 thousand dollars of additional income if you follow them faithfully. Therefore, to the one hundred or more students in this room, the lecture should have a potential value of a million dollars. This exp…
Jan 30, 2020
Doing What You Want to Do | Motivational Podcasts
Listen to episode 445 of the Inspirational Living podcast: Doing What You Want to Do | Motivational Podcasts. Edited and adapted from Getting a Start: First Aids to Success by Nathaniel C. Fowler.
Motivational Podcast Excerpt: Welcome to the Inspirational Living podcast. If you would like to support the continuation of our podcast with a one-time financial donation, please visit LivingHour.org/donate ( https://livinghour.org/donate ). Thank you.
Today’s reading was edited and adapted from Getting a Start: First Aids to Success by Nathaniel C. Fowler, published in 1915.
To feel the flush of success is to do what you most want to do, and what you can best do. Unless you can do well what you want to do, the fullness of result is impossible. Conversely, unless you want to do what you can do well, a small result is likely to follow.
While what you want to do appears to be subordinate to what you can do, so much do I believe in the assistance of co-operation and the value of desire, th…
Jan 28, 2020
From Poverty to Plenty | Inspirational Podcasts
Listen to episode 444 of the Inspirational Living podcast: From Poverty to Plenty | Inspirational Podcasts. Edited and Adapted from Success and How to Win It by B.F. Austin.
Motivational Podcast Excerpt: Welcome to the Inspirational Living podcast. If you enjoy our podcast please help us spread the word by sharing your favorite episodes on Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn. Leaving us a positive review at the iTunes store would also be greatly appreciated. Thank you.
Today’s reading was edited and adapted from Success and How to Win It by B.F. Austin, published in 1904.
Is your head filled with the idea that there is luck, accident, fate, when there's no such thing on earth? If you have not faith and confidence in yourself or in me, you must acquire confidence in the inner self and trust in everybody you are drawn to after first placing faith in your higher, spiritual self. That is the key to all success and has nothing to do with modern religiosity, creeds, or beliefs.
I will prese…
Jan 23, 2020
Motivation to Go Above & Beyond Expectations
Listen to episode 443 of the Inspirational Living podcast: Motivation to Go Beyond expectations. Edited and adapted from Getting a Start: First Aids to Success by Nathaniel C. Fowler.
Motivational Podcast Excerpt: Welcome to the Inspirational Living podcast. A special thanks to our newest patrons, Jennifer Kranenburg-Yip and Aaron Sentell. To learn how you can support our podcast with a small monthly donation, please visit LivingHour.org/patron ( https://livinghour.org/patron ).
Today’s reading was edited and adapted from Getting a Start: First Aids to Success by Nathaniel C. Fowler, published in 1915
IF you are faithful, ordinary success is yours. If you do what you are told to do, or what you have to do, you can't become a failure. But more than ordinary success, more than normal accomplishment, is due, not wholly to faithfulness, not entirely to your interest in your work, but to the fact that you do not only what you are told to do and have to do, but what you are not told to…
Jan 21, 2020
Successful Habits for Career Advancement | Podcast
Listen to episode 442 of the Inspirational Living podcast: Success Habits at the Workplace & Life. Edited and adapted from Getting a Start: First Aids to Success by Nathaniel C. Fowler.
Inspirational Podcast Excerpt: Welcome to the Inspirational Living podcast. If you enjoy our podcast, you’ll love our books, featuring the best essays read on our podcast. Learn more at InspirationalLifeLessons.com ( /inspirationalliving/episode/InspirationalLifeLessons.com ). Today’s reading was edited and adapted from Getting a Start: First Aids to Success by Nathaniel C. Fowler, published in 1915
BEING ahead of time may lose you a minute; but being behind time may spoil your whole day. You can't catch up with the time that has passed. Being late is foolhardy, unbusinesslike, disastrous, and dishonest. If you are expected at a certain time, or have agreed to be somewhere at an hour specified, you are dishonest to yourself and to the other person if you don't arrive on time.
Because you are expe…
Jan 16, 2020
Seizing Opportunities | Master of Your Fate
Listen to episode 441 of the Inspirational Living podcast: Seizing Opportunities | Master of Your Fate. Edited and Adapted from Success and How to Win It by B.F. Austin.
Motivational Podcast Excerpt: The Spanish have a proverb that half of the misfortunes in life come from holding in your horse while it is leaping. The rider who checks a horse when vaulting over a hedge or brook courts death or disaster. So, when the time comes for supreme effort (the grand vault that is to lift you over the obstacles in your path and introduce you to a higher and nobler arena), you must enter into the spirit and effort of the hour and not hold back your horse when it is leaping.
There comes to each life but a few of these moments, and when they do come they must be improved to the utmost. The one who would win in life's heavily contested conflicts must wisely lay aside everything that will hinder the fullest exercise of their powers or lessen their chances of winning success.
Every weight carried l…
Jan 14, 2020
Success Habits of Time, Money & Personal Power
Listen to episode 440 of the Inspirational Living podcast: Success Habits of Time, Money & Personal Power. Edited and Adapted from Success and How to Win It by B.F. Austin.
Motivational Podcast Excerpt: Welcome to the Inspirational Living podcast. A special thanks to our newest patron, Lesa Williams. Learn how you can support our podcast for as little as 1 dollar a month by visiting LivingHour.org/patron ( https://livinghour.org/patron ). Today’s reading was edited and adapted from Success and How to Win It by B.F. Austin, published in 1904.
Economy is a much broader word than most people imagine. It applies to time, strength, talent, influence and effort, as well as to the prudent and saving use of money. The rule of life should be: Avoid all waste.
When it comes to time, how important it is that we should learn how to make the best use of "spare moments," the "odds and ends" of our lives, and make them contribute their full share to life's grand purpose and attainment.
The hour…
Jan 9, 2020
The First Step Toward True Success in Life
Listen to episode 439 of the Inspirational Living podcast: The First Step Toward Success in Life. Edited and Adapted from Success and How to Win It by B.F. Austin.
Get Smarter, Faster. Visit Our New Sponsor Booknotes at: https://booknotes.page.link/livinghour
Inspirational Podcast Excerpt: All people desire success, but few attain their desire. Yet success, along some line, is a possibility in every life. The fact that many people attain success despite their unfavorable early environment, their ill health, misfortune, or friendless condition, proves that the way is open to all who will find the path and follow it.
Success is the rightful heritage of every life, and while, doubtless, all cannot reap the same measure of success in precisely the same lines, there is no question but that ninety-nine unsuccessful people in every hundred might find and pursue a path to power, peace, and plenty.
Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/inspirational-living/donations
Advertising…
Jan 7, 2020
How Your Thoughts Create Your Life | Motivationals
Listen to episode 438 of the Inspirational Living podcast: How Your Thoughts Create Your Life. Edited and adapted from “The Message of New Thought” by Abel Allen.
Motivational Podcast Excerpt: Welcome to the Inspirational Living podcast. A special thanks to our new patron Marco Schembari. By becoming our patron Marco has access to all transcripts of our more than 400 podcasts, plus access to our exclusive series Our Sunday Talks. Learn how you too can get special access by visiting LivingHour.org/patron ( https://livinghour.org/patron ).
Today’s reading was edited and adapted from “Message of New Thought” by Abel Allen, published in 1914.
Nature does not thrust powers and accomplishments upon us. In her infinite wisdom she leaves us a work to perform. Endowed by nature with inherent powers, it is left to us to develop them or not.
Wisely it was ordained that we should eat our bread by the sweat of our brow — for labor is the propelling force of human progress and advanc…
Jan 2, 2020
Success Talks: The Importance of Achieving Perfect Poise
Listen to episode 437 of the Inspirational Living podcast: The Importance of Achieving Perfect Poise. Edited and Adapted from Poise: How to Attain It by D. Starke.
Inspirational Podcast Excerpt: Welcome to the Inspirational Living podcast. Wishing you all a happy, healthy, and prosperous New Year. If you’ve made a resolution this year to live your absolutely best life, our MAJESTY meditation can help. It’s designed to help you in all areas of your personal and professional life, and it’s powered by our unique Autosuggestion Sound Method.
Learn more by visiting LivingHour.org/majesty ( https://livinghour.org/majesty ). And use the coupon code INSPIRATION to get 30% off at checkout. Thank you.
Today’s reading was edited and adapted from Poise: How to Attain It by D. Starke, published in 1916.
Lack of poise has always been an obstacle to those who wish to succeed.
In every age, the awkwardness born of timidity has hindered those who suffered from it. But this defect has never…
Dec 31, 2019
The Power of Concentration, Visualization & Enthusiasm
Listen to episode 436 of the Inspirational Living podcast: The Power of Concentration, Visualization & Enthusiasm. Edited and Adapted from The Victorious Attitude by Orison Swett Marden.
Motivational Podcast Excerpt: Those who concentrate upon an idea, who continue to visualize their dreams, to nurse them, who never lose sight of their goal, no matter how dark or forbidding the way, get what they concentrate on. They make their minds powerful magnets to attract the thing on which they have concentrated. Sooner or later they realize their dreams.
What could have kept Beethoven from becoming a master musician? What could have kept Thomas Edison or Steve Jobs, whom no hardships frightened, from realizing their wonderful visions?
If you can concentrate your thought and hold it persistently (work with it along the line of your greatest ambition), nothing can keep you from its realization. But spasmodic concentration, spasmodic enthusiasm, however intense, will peter out. Dreaming without…
Dec 26, 2019
Motivation to Live New Year 2020 with a Great Purpose
Listen to episode 435 of the Inspirational Living podcast: Motivation to Live 2020 with a Great Purpose. Edited and Adapted from the book The Architects of Fate by Orison Swett Marden.
Podcast Excerpt: It is a great purpose which gives meaning to life, it unifies all our powers, binds them together in one cable; makes strong and united what was weak, separated, scattered.
To succeed today a person must concentrate all their faculties of mind on one unwavering aim, and have a tenacity of purpose, which means death or victory. Every other inclination which tempts you from your aim must be suppressed.
An individual may starve on a dozen half-learned trades or occupations, but grow rich and famous upon one trade thoroughly mastered, even though it be the humblest.
Do not struggle to do two things at once. Throw your entire strength upon whatever you do. An intense energy should characterize everything you undertake, even your recreation.
Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.c…
Dec 24, 2019
The Greatest Christmas Gift | Friendship & Gratitude
Listen to episode 434 of the Inspirational Living podcast: The Greatest Christmas Gift You Can Give. Edited and adapted from Evening Round Up by William Crosbie Hunter.
Inspirational Podcast Excerpt: Welcome to the Inspirational Living podcast. I would like to wish all of you a Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukah, and joyful holiday seasons. Today I would like to share with you an episode of the Our Sunday Talks series which we offer to our patrons.
It’s a useful reminder that one of the greatest gifts that we can give to a friend, family member, or loved one is a few words (be it in a letter or face to face) expressing how much that other person means to you. It was edited and adapted from Evening Round Up by William Crosbie Hunter, published in 1915.
Do you have a friend who has been a great help and comfort to you? I have such a friend. Tonight I am in the mood to think of that friend and write them a letter like this:
This is to You. It is for You. It is about You. You, I have in…
Dec 19, 2019
The Best Way to Use Your Desire & Ambition
Listen to episode 433 of the Inspirational Living podcast: The Best Way to Use Desire & Ambition. Edited and adapted from How to Develop Your Personality by Clare Tree Major.
Motivational Podcast Excerpt: Ambition is desire, the desire for self-expression along the line of least resistance. Desire is a thing to be cultivated. Feed it with your imagination. But do not desire to have things. Greed and envy, and a host of other uglinesses, owe their birth to the desire to have. Desire to BE, and the things will come of themselves.
To be a great success, a master in your chosen business or profession, that is a legitimate desire — an ambition that will be an incentive to the exercise of your highest faculties. To desire to be rich in order that you may possess things stunts the mind and works against success.
The first and most important thing to do with regard to one's career is to focus one's ambitions. To scatter your energy over a number of things means that none of them is going…
Dec 17, 2019
Motivation for Building Self-Confidence & Positivity
Listen to episode 432 of the Inspirational Living podcast: Motivation for Building Self-Confidence. Edited and adapted from How to Develop Your Personality by Clare Tree Major.
Motivational Podcast Excerpt: Self-confidence means the difference between a restricted and developed personality. Keep constantly convincing yourself that you have no fear, that you are bound to succeed, that you won't acknowledge obstacles.
If you are not all you would like yourself to be, build your ideal, and then strike out boldly to materialize it. Have the courage of your convictions. You owe it to yourself to leave nothing undone that will lead to your ultimate success.
Enjoy your work. There is beauty and joy in everything if you will look for it. Work that is loved is half done before it is begun, and everything in connection with it, well done. However, work that is disliked is only half done when it is supposed to be finished.
Get something out of everything, even the thing that you thought would…
Dec 12, 2019
The Power of Your Mind Over Your Destiny
Listen to episode 431 of the Inspirational Living podcast: How You Create Your Destiny Every Day. Edited and adapted from How the Mind Works by Christian D. Larson.
Motivational Podcast Excerpt: Welcome to the Inspirational Living podcast. You can help support our podcast by spreading the word to your friends on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, or by leaving us a positive review at the iTunes store. Thank you. Today’s reading was edited and adapted from How the Mind Works by Christian D. Larson, published in 1912.
Your destiny is being created hourly by you. And that something that determines what you are to create at any particular period in time is the sum total of your ideals. Your future is not preordained by some external power, nor is fate controlled by some strange and mysterious force that master minds can alone comprehend and apply. It is our ideals that control and determine our fate. And we all have ideals, whether we be aware of the fact or not.
To have ideals is to ha…
Dec 10, 2019
How to Live a Larger Measure of Life | Inspirational
Listen to episode 430 of the Inspirational Living podcast: How to Live a Larger Measure of Life. Edited and adapted from How the Mind Works by Christian D. Larson.
If you would like to give back to our podcast and help ensure its production for years to come, you can make a one-time donation at LivingHour.org/donate ( https://livingHour.org/donate ).
Inspirational Podcast Excerpt: The person who gives much of themselves will be abundantly enriched because they place in life a large measure of themselves to be filled. The one who gives things may lose all that is given. But the one who gives of themselves (the best that is in themselves) loses nothing. Instead they gain a larger and a richer self.
To have an abundance of life is to have the power to help yourself and to re-create your own world according to your highest desires. The gift of life is therefore the highest gift. It is also the largest gift because it includes all gifts.
To give one's life is to express in thought, word…
Dec 5, 2019
The Power of the Spoken Word | Joy & Sadness
Listen to episode 429 of the Inspirational Living podcast: The Power of the Spoken Word | Joy & Sadness. Edited and adapted from Divine Adjustment by Henry Thomas Hamblin, published in 1930.
Inspirational Podcast Excerpt: Words appear to possess a power and vibration of their own, a power that differs according to their quality or character. Thus positive words have the ability to awaken in us feelings and powers akin to themselves.
We can easily prove this for ourselves. If, when discouraged or depressed, we repeat to ourselves the words: courage, strength, hope, faith, victory, joy, happiness, etc., we find that there is something within us that responds to the power and vibration of the words uttered, so that we are raised above our weakness and depression to such an extent that we are able once again to face up the difficulties and problems of life.
However, if we allow ourselves to become depressed and discouraged, we go down and down, life becoming more and more trying and dif…
Dec 3, 2019
How to Become Strong in Spirit | Freedom & Individuality
Listen to episode 428 of the Inspirational Living podcast: How to Become Strong in Spirit and Life. Edited and adapted from Divine Adjustment by Henry Thomas Hamblin, published in 1930.
Inspirational Podcast Excerpt: It is necessary for us to develop strength and individuality. We have to become so strong that no dominating ego can have any power or influence over us. We have to maintain our liberty, and be free, individualized beings.
If we do not maintain our freedom, we not only become weak people without individuality or character, but we also are liable to find ourselves dominated by some strong ego to such an extent that our life ceases to be our own.
Now, many of us may recognize the necessity of being strongly individualistic and capable of resisting suggestion, but how are we to develop such strength?
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Support this podcast at —…
Nov 28, 2019
Creating a Success Mindset | I AM Success
Listen to episode 427 of the Inspirational Living podcast: Creating a Success Mindset | I AM Success. Edited and adapted from Dynamic Thought by Henry Thomas Hamblin, published in 1921.
Motivational Podcast Excerpt: It cannot be emphasized too much that success is not something to be won. It is a mental state, an attitude of the mind. The mind itself has unlimited power, and mental power (or thought) is the force that is greater than all forces. Therefore the power to accomplish all things is within us.
This potent power, however, cannot find expression in your life if your attitude of the mind is wrong. When the mind is naturally of the success type (or is made so by training), then its intense powers become focused into one powerful beam, which shapes and molds the outward life on the form of the inward pattern.
There is nothing of "magic" about this. It is capable of the simplest explanation. When your mind is of this type, the impulses sent to the sub-conscious mind can only res…
Nov 26, 2019
The Simple & Timeless Truth About Life
Listen to episode 426 of the Inspirational Living podcast: The Power of Truth (The Simple Truth About Life). Edited and adapted from The Power of Truth by William George Jordan.
Podcast Excerpt: The great question of life is not "What have l?" but "What am I?" Most of us are loyal to what we most desire. The individual who lies to save a dollar, merely proclaims that they esteem a dollar more than they do their honor. Those who sacrifice their ideals, truth and character, for mere money or position, are weighing their conscience in one pan of a scale against a bag of gold in the other. They are loyal to what they find the heavier, that which they desire the more — the money.
But this is not truth. Truth is the heart's loyalty to the abstract sense of right, made manifest in concrete instances. The professional who lies, cheats, misleads, or overcharges and then seeks to square themselves with their anaemic conscience by saying, “lying is absolutely necessary to business," is a…
Nov 21, 2019
Inspirational Life Lessons | Dr. Frank Crane
Listen to episode 425 of the Inspirational Living podcast: Inspirational Life Lessons | Dr. Frank Crane. Adapted from “If I Were Twenty-One” by Dr. Frank Crane.
Motivational Podcast Excerpt: Learn the art of conversation, of small talk. Equip yourself to be able to entertain the grouchiest, most blasé people. For there is hardly a business in the world in which it is not a great advantage to be able to converse entertainingly. The secret of being a good conversationalist is a genuine, unselfish interest in others. That and practice. It consists more in making the other person talk, than in talking yourself.
In addition, do not argue. I never knew one person in my life that was convinced by argument. Discuss, yes; but not argue. The difference is this: in discussion you are searching for the truth, and in argument you want to prove that you are right. In discussion, therefore, you are anxious to know your neighbor’s views, and you listen to them. In argument, you don’t care a…
Nov 19, 2019
How to Find Success & Happiness in Your Life
Listen to episode 424 of the Inspirational Living podcast: Finding Success on the Hunt for Happiness. Edited and adapted from The Joys of Living by Orison Swett Marden.
Inspirational Podcast Excerpt: We may not recognize our motives, but we are all trying to better ourselves, to get a little more comfort, a little easier position, a little more happiness, a little more out of life than we have been getting.
Real happiness, however, is not titillation of the nervous system. It does not come from eating, drinking, seeing, or hearing. It does not come from the gratification of desires or of possession. Real happiness is born of noble endeavor, a useful life. It is extracted a little here, a little there, from a kind word, a noble deed, a generous act. We get a little bit from every right thought, from every kind word or deed, and it cannot be found anywhere else.
Happiness, it has been said, is a mosaic composed of little stones. Each taken singly is of little value; but when all are…
Nov 14, 2019
The Importance of Self-Education | Forbes Magazine
Listen to episode 423 of the Inspirational Living podcast: The Importance of Self-Education | Forbes Magazine. Edited and adapted from Keys to Success by B.C. Forbes.
Motivational Podcast Excerpt: Welcome to the Inspirational Living podcast, brought to you by the kind financial support of listeners like you. To become our patron for as little as a dollar a month, please visit LivingHour.org/patron ( https://livinghour.org/patron ). Today’s reading was edited and adapted from The Keys to Success by B.C. Forbes, published in 1918.
Education is not merely “a” key to success. It could almost be called “the” key to success. No uneducated, uncultured person is really successful — for true success consists less of money than of mentality; it is an inward thing, not an outward one.
Education is both a means to an end and an end in itself. Without education, no man or woman can reach the highest pinnacle of success. But education does not consist of merely of school learning. Edu…
Nov 12, 2019
How Thought & Action Will Drive Your Success
Listen to episode 422 of the Inspirational Living podcast: Combining Thought & Action for Lasting Success. Edited and adapted from Keys to Success by B.C. Forbes.
Motivational Podcast Excerpt: The Empire State Building was once only a thought. Thousands of years ago an Egyptian king had a thought, and lo! every generation since then has gazed on its fulfillment — the Pyramids.
Thought is the parent of progress. Thought creates all. Everything springs from thought. Human beings are distinguished from other animals by this one power: the power of thought. The immortals of this world are they who thought deeper or more brilliantly than their fellow citizens.
Henry Ford once said: “My advice to business people is to read a lot, think a lot, and work a lot. I started that way. I kept on thinking and I am still thinking. The habit of analysis, the ability to get under the surface of things and at the vital essentials, gives you a tremendous advantage over those of your competitors who…
Nov 7, 2019
How to Make a Life Worth Living | Motivational
Listen to episode 421 of the Inspirational Living podcast: How to Make a Life Worth Living | Motivational. Edited and adapted from A Man Worthwhile by John Phillips Meakin.
Motivational Podcast Transcript: Welcome to the Inspirational Living podcast. Get the best of our podcast in heirloom hardcover or digital e-book by visiting InspirationalLifeLessons.com ( https://inspirationallifelessons.com/ ). Today’s reading was edited and adapted from A Man Worthwhile by John Phillips Meakin, published in 1913.
The all-important question for everyone to ask of themselves if they have the slightest spark of intellectual ambition in them is, “How may I become a true individual?” Then another question will well up from the soul, namely: “What can I do to make life worth the living?” The answer will be: Look to the light, be true to your inner self, and have the faith of the poet who said: —
“Better to strive and climb
And never reach the goal,
Than to drift along with time
An a…
Nov 5, 2019
How to Grow Rich in Wisdom, Love & Happiness
Listen to episode 420 of the Inspirational Living podcast: Becoming Rich in Wisdom, Love & Happiness. Edited and adapted from A Man Worthwhile by John Phillips Meakin.
Inspirational Podcast Excerpt: Men and women of character are the need of the day. People whose minds are developed in strict integrity and honor; people who believe in truth, who are broad-minded, who are deep-hearted, full of love and wisdom — their hearts continually beating in true affection for humankind — just plain, true, honest, thinking men and women, imparting their influence of joy and sunshine not only in their immediate circle, but wherever they may go and to all they may meet on life’s rough highway.
Success in life does not only mean the winning of some great prize: it ought to mean the attainment of that physical and intellectual condition in the individual where all the various strings which make up the harp of life respond in fullest measure to the infinite vibrations of a throbbing, pulsing wo…
Oct 31, 2019
Be Pleasant & Live for a Great Goal | Inspirational Advice
Listen to episode 419 of the Inspirational Living podcast: Be Pleasant & Live for a Great Goal. Edited and adapted from Think (a Book for Today) by William Crosbie Hunter.
Inspirational Podcast Excerpt: Be pleasant to live with and you will have more pleasant things to live for. There will be kindnesses, kisses, beauty, health, peace, fun, happiness, and contentment coming your way all along the great big road of life you are traveling.
Be pleasant to live with and the people will turn to you as you pass, and reflect your cheerfulness like the sunflowers turn to face the sun.
Be pleasant. Don't be cross and crabbed because someone else in your household is not pleasant. Do your part. You will likely thereby cure the frown habit on the face of the unfortunate disturber of your peace.
Make yourself right before you criticize your life partner. And it all begins by answering this question: "Am I pleasant to live with?"
Don't fool yourself in the matter. Get right down to brass tacks…
Oct 29, 2019
Learn to Say No & The Secret of Aging Well
Listen to episode 418 of the Inspirational Living podcast: Learn How to Say No & Working Until the End. Edited and adapted from Dollars & Sense by William Crosbie Hunter.
Motivational Podcast Excerpt: Since the age of ten years I’ve been thrust upon my own resources, and the 32 years since then have been years of study, work, and play — all blended into a happy life.
The jolts, the set-backs, the sorrows, worries, and discouragements are the things which made me strong. They were but experiences.
Smooth sailing doesn't bring out the stuff one is made of. It takes shadows to make sunlight appreciated. It takes reverses to make success. It takes hard knocks to polish you. And one of the most important things to learn early is to learn to say No.
Look over the history of the thousands who have failed in business, and you will find in nearly every instance the failure was due to an inability to say No.
Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/inspirational-living/donation…
Oct 24, 2019
The Importance of Perseverance & Punctuality
Listen to episode 417 of the Inspirational Living podcast: The Importance of Perseverance & Punctuality. Edited and adapted from Right Living by Susan H. Wixon.
Motivational Podcast Excerpt: Welcome to the Inspirational Living podcast. Get the best of our podcast in book form by visiting InspirationalLifeLessons.com ( https://inspirationallifelessons.com/ ). There you’ll find our trilogy of essay compilations: Evergreen: 50 Inspirational Life Lessons, Everest: 50 Motivational Life Lessons, and Evermore: 50 Life Lessons for Spiritual Growth. Learn more at: InspiriationalLifeLessons.com ( https://inspirationallifelessons.com/ ). Thank you.
Today’s reading was edited and adapted from Right Living by Susan H. Wixon, published in 1894.
The accomplishment of goals, the successes in life, are due to concentration of effort — to energy and perseverance. We see persons plodding along day after day, not showing much for their work at first, but then finally astonishing everyone by their…
Oct 22, 2019
Living the Golden Rule | The Way of Love & Forgiveness
Listen to episode 416 of the Inspirational Living podcast: Living the Golden Rule | The Way of Love. Edited and adapted from Love’s Way by Orison Swett Marden.
Inspirational Podcast Excerpt: Welcome to the Inspirational Living podcast. Transform your personal and professional life in 30 days with our MAJESTY meditation program. Go to LivingHour.org/majesty ( https://livinghour.org/majesty ). And get 30% off with the coupon code: inspiration.
Today’s reading was edited and adapted from Love’s Way by Orison Swett Marden, published in 1918.
After an ugly scar had been made by a stone quarry in the mountainside opposite John Ruskin's home, destroying the beauty of his favorite landscape, he placed a big chair in front of the window of his study, so that it would conceal the scar from him while working, because it disturbed the harmony of his thought.
If you have received an ugly scar from someone perhaps whom you trusted and believed in; if you have a sore spot, a tender spot any…
Oct 17, 2019
Developing a Strong Personality & Perfect Poise
Listen to episode 415 of the Inspirational Living podcast: Developing a Strong Personality & Perfect Poise. Edited and adapted from How to Develop Your Personality by Clare Tree Major.
Motivational Podcast Excerpt: Welcome to the Inspirational Living podcast. If you would like to help support our podcast you can do so easily by simply leaving us a positive review at the iTunes store. Or if you would like to make a one-time financial donation, go to LivingHour.org/donate ( https://livinghour.org/donate ). Thank you.
WHAT is "personality"? Webster interprets the meaning of the word as "individuality," but like many words that assume added meanings through common usage, personality also has acquired the suggestion of a quality not covered by the word "individuality."
You may be discussing a person you dislike very much, one who holds ideas that are rather loathsome, and while you might readily admit that such a person might be "individual," you would never for a moment say "So-and-so h…
Oct 15, 2019
Being Healthy & Anxiety Free | Happiness Podcast
Listen to episode 414 of the Inspirational Living podcast: The Happiness Cure | Being Healthy & Anxiety Free. Edited and adapted from How to Stay Well by Christian D. Larson.
Inspirational Podcast Excerpt: True happiness enjoys all things deeply, but serenely. And you can always know when you have had such happiness, because it makes your countenance radiant with a restful beauty.
To gain real happiness, the first essential is to train yourself to think constantly of the great value of happiness — especially with regard to its health producing power. Such thinking will tend to produce a subconscious desire for happiness, and what the subconscious begins to desire it also begins to create.
Train yourself to think of happiness as a mental necessity (just as food is a physical necessity) and you will gradually train every element and force in your body to work for the creation of happiness. By creating within yourself a constant demand for happiness, you will inspire the elements of…
Oct 10, 2019
The Art of Self-Reliance, Self-Control & Self-Respect
Listen to episode 413 of the Inspirational Living podcast: The Art of Self-Reliance, Self-Control & Self-Respect. Edited and adapted from Right Living by Susan H. Wixon.
Inspirational Podcast Excerpt: It is observed in life, that successful people are the resolute and self-reliant. What is self-reliance? It is to be in harmony with all laws of Nature and the highest morality — the qualities that stand out, by themselves, alone, but are as firm as granite.
The march of life is onward. It does not stand still. We are on its ocean. We mark our course, or we drift, hither and yonder, at mercy of wave and wind. The person who relies on their own exertion, grows, enlarges, expands.
Never halt or waver when you know you are right. Never think you cannot succeed, but try — make an effort. You cannot know the elements that are in you to command success until you look within and bring out the hidden qualities latent there.
Visit our new sponsor BetterHelp.com/living ( https://betterhelp.…
Oct 8, 2019
Working Together for True Happiness & Success
Listen to episode 412 of the Inspirational Living podcast: Working Together for True Happiness & Success. Edited and adapted from Love’s Way by Orison Swett Marden.
Inspirational Podcast Excerpt: Welcome to the Inspirational Living podcast. A special thanks to our newest patrons, Kristen Valenti, Shae Sterett, and Rosa De Souza. By becoming our patrons Kristen, Shae, and Rosa now get their own private podcast feed with full transcripts, delivered right to their smartphone. They also get access to our special series for patrons: Our Sunday Talks. To learn how you can get these same benefits for only $3 a month, please go to LivingHour.org/patron ( https://podcast.livinghour.org ). Thank you. Today’s reading was edited and adapted from Love’s Way by Orison Swett Marden, published in 1918.
A single bee lacks the necessary intelligence to make honey. It is only when they work together that bees become productive. If all the bees in the hive were separated and forced to live alone t…
Oct 3, 2019
The Power of Individuality, Originality & Character
Listen to episode 411 of the Inspirational Living podcast: The Power of Individuality, Originality & Character. Edited and adapted from Right Living by Susan H. Wixon.
Inspirational Podcast Excerpt: Is it true that we are too apt to be copies of one another? Yes, it is true. We are often imitators, and not originators. It would appear, almost, at first sight, as if it were dangerous to walk a different path from the accepted highway. Yet there are many short-cuts across lots that bring one to town sooner than following the beaten track.
Instead, we go as others go. We do as others do, without thinking whether it be right or not. When deviating somewhat from the well-worn way, we are apt to be frightened, and to fear we are lost. Yet, we do not live to be exact copies of each other. Originality of action, of speech, of thought, is the necessity of the world. Great men and great women of this or of any period of the world's history, are always those of striking characteristics, of stro…
Oct 1, 2019
How to Live Right & Get the Most Out of Life
Listen to episode 410 of the Inspirational Living podcast: How to Live Right & Get the Most Out of Life. Edited and adapted from Right Living by Susan H. Wixon.
Motivational Podcast Transcript: "Living will teach you how to live better than any preacher or book," says Goethe. But what is it to live? Is it simply to eat, drink, and be merry? Is it to learn a little, here and there; to laugh and play; to sleep, weep, toil, and battle from day to day, and from year to year for food and shelter? Is it to bend every energy to the acquirement of wealth, fame, or position? Is it to sacrifice all for the applause of the multitude?
Life is more than that. It has larger uses. It contains greater and grander results. It holds loftier and nobler aspirations. Its measure is flaming with the fires of truth, glowing with the gold of understanding. Life, rightly lived is an inspiration, an incentive to high effort, a means of true and sure happiness.
The one who is worthy of the praise and gratitud…
Sep 26, 2019
Unlocking the Secret of Happiness Within You
Listen to episode 409 of the Inspirational Living podcast: The Secret of Happiness is Within You. Edited and adapted from Mightier Than Circumstance by Frank B. Whitney.
Inspirational Podcast Excerpt: THERE are millions of people who would give almost all they possess in order to be happy. They go to various places and try every conceivable method for obtaining happiness. They yearn for things and think that by possessing them happiness will come to them. They turn to other people and to external things but still happiness eludes them.
A search for happiness does not always bring it, because we look for it in the same spirit that we would look for a lost purse. We believe that happiness is found when we arrive at that place in consciousness and experience where we no longer have to seek for it.
When we look for happiness, we do not have it. When we cease to look for it, we discover that it is ours.
Go to SimpleHabit.com/living ( https://simplehabit.com/living ) to download their fr…
Sep 24, 2019
Seize the Day with a New Outlook on Life | Motivational
Listen to episode 408 of the Inspirational Living podcast: Seize the Day with a New Outlook on Life. Edited and adapted from Mightier Than Circumstance by Frank B. Whitney.
Motivational Podcast Excerpt: HAVE you ever thought of the dawning of a day as the dawning of a new life and a new world? Last night the darkness of the night blotted out your mistakes of yesterday. This morning the bright and glorious sun saluted you in a new world with new opportunities.
Is this not a beautiful truth to contemplate? Does not its wisdom seem more and more convincing as you think about it?
To the person who thinks of life as a humdrum experience, today is just another day. It links them up with unfortunate experiences of yesterday, as well as the uncertainties of tomorrow. Their calendar reveals to them but a succession of days. Their experience in living through them is almost the same as that of a patient and plodding animal working a treadmill.
However, it need not be so — for last night th…
Sep 19, 2019
Finding Your Place in the World | Spiritual Inspiration
Listen to episode 407 of the Inspirational Living podcast: Finding Your Place in the World. Edited and adapted from Concentration: The Key to Constructive Thought by C. W. Kyle.
Inspirational Podcast Excerpt: There is a place for every human being in the world — a special place and a special work for each one of us to do; a work which no other person can do; a work that is essentially and wholly connected with every woman and man. To find this place in the world and to come to know the lessons that are best for you to learn, is a necessary step toward making a success of your life.
Neither of these problems is difficult to solve, if you but bring your common sense to bear upon them. To be cool and just in an examination of yourself; to gauge honestly and fairly the state of your growth; to take care of your health and fitness; is all that is necessary.
Go to SimpleHabit.com/living ( https://simplehabit.com/living ) to download their free meditation app. Be among the first 50 liste…
Sep 17, 2019
The Greatest Power for Self-Development & Success
Listen to episode 406 of the Inspirational Living podcast: The Greatest Power for Self-Development & Personal Growth. Edited and adapted from Success Through Thought Habit by Benjamin Johnson.
Motivational Podcast Excerpt: Welcome to the Inspirational Living podcast. A special thanks to our newest monthly patrons: Eric Miller, David Leites, Ifeany Nwenyi, and Tim. You can help support our podcast by also becoming our monthly patron. In return you’ll get access to over 100 inspirational podcasts no longer publicly available, plus transcripts to all of our more than 400 podcasts, as well as access to the exclusive series Our Sunday Talks, which delivers inspirational talks on spiritual topics.
To gain access your monthly donation can be as little as $3 a month. Learn more by visiting LivingHour.org/patron ( https://livinghour.org/patron ). Thank you.
Today’s reading has been edited and adapted from “Success Through Thought Habit” by Benjamin Johnson, published in 1908.
Habit,…
Sep 12, 2019
How to Live the Perfect Day | Elizabeth Towne
Listen to episode 405 of the Inspirational Living podcast: How to Live the Perfect Day. Edited and adapted from Lessons in Living by Elizabeth Towne.
Motivational Podcast Excerpt: When Johnny Hayes won the Marathon in the Olympic Games, he trained for months before-hand. Every hindrance to his goal was laid aside; he ate the healthiest food, kept regular hours, trained carefully every day, kept his mind ever focused on the one thought of success in that race.
The successful life is made up of a succession of successful days — every day being a little Marathon by itself. If we live a successful today, we make a wise preparation to live a successful tomorrow; and so on, day after day, year after year, through our whole lives.
Only today is ours. Today we can make the right preparation, make the right and easy start, run the successful race with time, and close the day a victor. This day it is possible to do that. So, how shall we prepare for it? How shall we manage our energy and di…
Sep 10, 2019
How to Develop the Power of Memory | Success Skills
Listen to episode 404 of the Inspirational Living podcast: Developing the Power of Memory for Success. Edited and adapted from Secrets of Mental Supremacy by W. R. C. Latson.
Inspirational Podcast Excerpt: THE value of any person to themselves and to the world at large depends in great degree upon their memory — upon your ability to recall and to use at any desired moment the recollection of what you have seen, heard, experienced, or thought. Memory is really the stock in trade of our mental life. Our perceptions bring to us a vast mass of experiences — things that we have seen, heard, touched, tasted, and smelled — our thoughts and experiences. But these things are valuable only when they are held in the memory. For, unless they are remembered they cannot be used.
Most of us have forgotten much more than we remember. We have studied at school, at college, at home. We have read many, many books. We have had any number of interesting and instructive conversations. We have, som…
Sep 5, 2019
Inspiration for Opening the Door to a Larger Life
Listen to episode 403 of the Inspirational Living podcast: Inspiration for Opening the Door to a Larger Life. Edited and adapted from The Open Door by Hugh Black.
Inspirational Podcast Excerpt: Who can set limits to what is? Who can draw a line and declare that within its boundaries lies all that is possible? Who can say what forces there are unknown that one day may be utilized by us all? The world is not one definite thing, but is whatever we (with knowledge, courage, and faith) are able to make it.
When we reach the borders, there is ever an open door into a larger place. The world is just as big as we are big enough to inhabit. Like all true things, this idea is not completely new. We have always known it in other regions of human experience: aesthetically the world is to each of us what we are able to appreciate.
How different a single scene may appear to different views. Buttercups and daisies, the common flowers of the field, may be a delight to a child and a nuisance to a fa…
Sep 3, 2019
Motivation for Making Your Life Great | Daily Heroism
Listen to episode 402 of the Inspirational Living podcast: Motivation for Making Your Life Great. Edited and adapted from Love’s Way by Orison Swett Marden.
Motivational Podcast Excerpt: J.R. Miller once said: ''Some day we shall learn that the little deeds of love made unconsciously as we pass on our way are greater in their helpfulness and shine more brightly in the life than the deeds of renown that we think now make a life great." Never was there a greater mistake than to think that heroism, courage, and daring, are confined to the field of battle. It doesn't matter what post we are assigned to in the battle of life, we have an opportunity to do heroic things every day.
If we have the spirit of love, if we are filled with the love of truth and justice, if we are determined always to stand for the right no matter what the cost, we are always battling for the higher things of life.
It is as heroic to take a firm stand for honesty, when it may cost you your job, or to rescue a pe…
Aug 29, 2019
Inspiration for Self-Control & Building a Healthy Mindset
Listen to episode 401 of the Inspirational Living podcast: Self-Control and Building a Healthy Mindset. Edited and adapted from Light on Life’s Difficulties by James Allen.
Inspirational Podcast Excerpt: Today, I’d like to offer some advice on the management of your mind. Before a person can see even the necessity for thorough and complete self-management, they have to throw off a great delusion that so many people have — the delusion of believing that their failures in life are entirely due to those around them, and not entirely to themselves.
"I could make far greater progress if I were not hindered by others," or "It is impossible for me to make any headway, seeing that I live with such negative people," are commonly expressed complaints that spring from the error of imagining that others are responsible for one’s own folly.
The violent or irritable person always blames those around them for their fits of anger. And by continually living in this delusion, they become more…
Aug 27, 2019
The Art of Speaking Eloquently | How to Speak Well
Listen to episode 400 of the Inspirational Living podcast: The Art of Speaking Eloquently | How to Speak Well. Edited and adapted from Personal Efficiency by James Samuel Knox.
Inspirational Podcast Excerpt: Welcome to the Inspirational Living podcast. To get the best readings of our podcast in heirloom quality hardcover or digital e-book, please visit InspirationalLifeLessons.com.
Act now and you can buy the e-book Evergreen: 50 Inspirational Life Lessons and get the e-book Everest: 50 Motivational Life Lessons for free. Learn more at InspirationalLifeLessons.com ( https://inspirationallifelessons.com ).
Today’s podcast has been edited and adapted from Personal Efficiency by James Samuel Knox, published in 1920.
Very few people have ever been taught how to talk well, how to express themselves effectively. Yet every person would greatly profit by a good course of instruction in public speaking — for as Elbert Hubbard once said: “Truth badly spoken dies and dries and blows awa…
Aug 22, 2019
Positive Thinking for Success | Overcoming Negativity
Listen to episode 399 of the Inspirational Living podcast: Positive Thinking for Success | Overcoming Negativity. Edited and adapted from Dynamic Thought by Henry Thomas Hamblin.
Inspirational Podcast Excerpt: Welcome to the Inspirational Living podcast. Today’s podcast is about the importance of building a positive mindset. If you’d like additional tools and inspiration for becoming an optimist, be sure to check out the Simple Habit app.
In addition to guided meditations that will boost your positivity, Simple Habit also has motivational talks, such as the 31 Day Fresh Start series by Cory Muscara. Cory has strategically put together 31 important messages (each one building upon the other) to help you get a fresh start in life — including topics such as working with regrets, gratitude, forgiveness, cognitive reframing, and more.
Discover the 100s of free meditations and talks available on the Simple Habit app by downloading it today. And, for a limited time, our listeners can…
Aug 20, 2019
Ambition, Success & The Inner Voice of Wisdom
Listen to episode 398 of the Inspirational Living podcast: Ambition, Success, and the Inner Voice of Wisdom. Edited and adapted from Dynamic Thought by Henry Thomas Hamblin.
Motivational Podcast Excerpt: WHAT is success? To one person it means one thing and to another it may mean something quite different. Some people desire happiness and love above all things, and could they but gain these would count themselves successful in the highest degree, even though their circumstances remained humble and comparatively poor.
Some desire fame and distinction in science. Their ambition is to invent, to discover or investigate, to do something that has never been done before. The only reward that they seek is the joy of accomplishment.
Some desire to be great in music, painting, in sculpture, while others seek to be leaders in their chosen profession of business, medicine, law, or politics. Still others have ambitions to serve their day and generation, to give and be spent in the service of hu…
Aug 15, 2019
Motivation for Living Each Day to the Fullest
Listen to episode 397 of the Inspirational Living podcast: The Joy of Living Each Day to the Fullest. Edited and adapted from A Way of Life by Sir William Osler.
Inspirational Podcast Excerpt: I have told you that my success philosophy for life is to live for the day only, to disregard thoughts of the future and the past. But now let us speak of the day itself! What first? Be your own day-captain! and sigh not with Job for any mysterious intermediary. Prepare to lay your own firm hand upon the helm. Get into touch with the finite things of the day, and grasp in full enjoyment that sense of mastery in a machine working smoothly.
Join the whole creation of animate things in a deep, heartfelt joy that you are alive, that you see the sun, that you are on this glorious earth which nature has made so beautiful, and which is yours to conquer and to enjoy. Realize, in the words of Browning, that "There’s a world of opportunity for joy spread round about us, meant for us, inviting us."
Wha…
Aug 13, 2019
A Way of Life | A Success Philosophy for Daily Living
Listen to episode 396 of the Inspirational Living podcast: A Way of Life | A Success Philosophy for Daily Living. Edited and adapted from A Way of Life by Dr. William Osler, a founding professor of Johns Hopkins Hospital.
Inspirational Podcast Excerpt: Every person has a philosophy of life in thought, in word, or in deed — one that has been worked out in themselves unconsciously. Among the very best, they may not know of its existence. With the very worst, they may pride themselves as some kind of paragon. As this philosophy grows with our growth through adulthood, it cannot be taught to the young in formal lectures.
Why then should I trouble you? Because I have a message that may be helpful. It is not philosophical, nor is it strictly moral or religious, and yet in a way it is all three. It is the oldest and the freshest, the simplest and the most useful.
My message is but a word, a Way, an expression of the experience of a plain man whose life has never been worried by any philo…
Aug 8, 2019
How to Get What You Want | Making Dreams Come True
Listen to episode 395 of the Inspirational Living podcast: How to Get What You Want | Making Dreams Come True. Edited and adapted from How to Get What You Want by Orison Swett Marden.
Go to SimpleHabit.com/living ( https://simplehabit.com/living ) to download their free app and to unlock thousands of more meditations with their special offer just for our listeners.
Motivational Podcast Excerpt: You are victory organized. You were born to conquer, to play a magnificent part in life’s great game. But you can never do anything great or grand until you have such a conviction of yourself and your ability.
How often do we hear it said of some person, “Everything they undertake succeeds,” or “Everything they touch turns to gold?” Why? Because that person is constantly picturing to themselves the success of their undertakings, and they are backing up their vision by their efforts.
By clinging to their vision (by vigorous resolution and persistent, determined endeavor) they are co…
Aug 6, 2019
Wake Up! How to Get the Morning & Day Started Right
Listen to episode 394 of the Inspirational Living podcast: Wake Me Up! How to Get the Day Started Right. Edited and adapted from Nerve Control and How to Gain It by H. Addington Bruce.
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Motivational Podcast Excerpt: I imagine that there are some of you who would say that things haven’t been going well with you lately — that you are nervous, easily tired, easily irritated. You may have been to the doctor, but they found nothing organically wrong with you. The doctor didn’t even find it necessary to modify your diet.
You yourself feel that the trouble is more mental than physical. You are worried by business conditions; the high cost of living weighs on your mind; you dread the bill collectors; etc.
You appreciate that worry will not mend matters for you. But what are you to do? If you could only afford to get away from everything for a while, you feel that you would be all right…
Aug 1, 2019
Beauty, Truth & The Upanishads | Rabindranath Tagore
Listen to episode 393 of the Inspirational Living podcast: Beauty, Truth & The Upanishads. Edited and adapted from The Realisation of Life by Rabindranath Tagore.
Inspirational Podcast Excerpt: Every day our science is penetrating into the region formerly marked on the map as unexplored or unexplorable. Our sense of beauty is similarly engaged in ever pushing on from its conquests. Truth is everywhere, therefore everything is the object of our knowledge. Beauty is omnipresent, therefore everything is capable of giving us joy.
In the early days of human history, we took everything as a phenomenon of life. The science of life then began by creating a sharp distinction between life and non-life. But as science is proceeding further and further, the line of demarcation between the animate and inanimate is growing more and more vague. In the beginning of our understanding, the sharp lines of contrast were helpful to us, but as our comprehension becomes clearer they gradually fade away.
T…
Jul 30, 2019
Fight Fatigue: How to Work with More Energy & Focus
Listen to episode 392 of the Inspirational Living podcast: Fight Fatigue | Working with More Energy. Edited and adapted from Nerve Control and How to Gain It by H. Addington Bruce.
Inspirational Podcast Excerpt: Welcome to the Inspirational Living podcast. A special thanks to our newest monthly patrons: Martin Paulden, Kellie at Prime Intention, and Tessa. Become our patron for as little as $3 a month and you’ll gain access to our entire archive of nearly 400 podcasts, as well as full transcripts. You’ll also gain access to our patron-only series Our Sunday Talks, which deals with topics related to spirituality and spiritual growth. Learn more by visiting LivingHour.org/patron ( https://livinghour.org/patron ). Thank you.
Today’s reading was edited an adapted from Nerve Control and How to Gain It by H. Addington Bruce, published in 1919.
IF you have work to do — as I trust you to — do your work in the right spirit. That is, do it gladly, recognizing work for what it really…
Jun 18, 2019
Nikola Tesla Wisdom | My Inventions | Autobiography
Listen to episode 380 of the Inspirational Living podcast: The Wisdom of Nikola Tesla | My Inventions. Edited and adapted from the writing of Nikola Tesla.
Inspirational Podcast Transcript: Welcome to the Inspirational Living podcast. A special thanks to our newest patrons Stanley Oahimin and Daniel McGehee. By becoming patrons, Stanley and Daniel now get access to 100 additional podcasts from our archive that are no longer available in our current public list — as well as full transcripts to every episode. To get that same access, become our patron today. You can do so for as little as $3 a month. Learn more at LivingHour.org/patron ( https://livinghour.org/patron ). Thank you.
Today’s reading was edited and adapted from the writings of Nikola Tesla.
“If you want to find the secrets of the universe, think in terms of energy, frequency, and vibration.”
“The scientists of today think deeply instead of clearly. One must be sane to think clearly, but one can think deeply and…
Oct 4, 2018
The Dalai Lama on Life, Religion & Education | Inspiration
Listen to episode 306 of the Inspirational Living podcast: The Dalai Lama on Life, Religion, and Education. Tibetan Buddhism.
Inspirational Podcast Excerpt: Welcome to the Inspirational Living podcast, brought to you by the kind financial support of our patrons. Learn how you can support our work, and gain access to full transcripts, by visiting LivingHour.org/patron ( https://livinghour.org/patron ). Thank you.
Today’s reading was edited and adapted from the writings and talks of the Dalai Lama, the spiritual leader of the Tibetan people.
“Every day, think as you wake up, today I am fortunate to be alive. I have a precious human life. I am not going to waste it. I am going to use all my energies to develop myself, to expand my heart out to others; to achieve enlightenment for the benefit of all beings. I am going to have kind thoughts towards others. I am not going to get angry or think badly about others. I am going to benefit others as much as I can.”
“Give the ones you…
Sep 18, 2018
Albert Einstein: Thoughts on Science, Religion & Life
Listen to episode 301 of the Inspirational Living podcast: Albert Einstein: Thoughts on Science, Religion & Life. Edited and adapted from the writings of Albert Einstein.
Inspirational Podcast Excerpt: Welcome to the Inspirational Living podcast. If you are having trouble sleeping, try our Living Hour sleep meditations, which combine the relaxing sounds of the ocean or rain with a binaural beat track and 50 positive affirmations to send you off into a deep and rejuvenating sleep. Learn more by visiting LivingHour.org/ocean ( https://livinghour.org/ocean ). Thank you. Today’s reading was edited and adapted from the writings of Albert Einstein.
“A human being is a part of the whole called by us the universe, a part limited in time and space. We experience ourselves, our thoughts and feelings, as something separated from the rest, a kind of optical delusion of our consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a f…
Sep 6, 2018
Concentration and Meditation | Swami Paramananda
Listen to episode 298 of the Inspirational Living podcast: Concentration and Meditation. Edited and adapted from Concentration and Meditation by Swami Paramananda.
Inspirational Podcast Excerpt: Welcome to the Inspirational Living podcast. If you or someone you know is struggling with addiction to cigarettes, alcohol, or heroin, our break free meditations can help. To learn more, please visit LivingHour.org/breakfree ( https://livinghour.org/breakfree ).
Today’s reading was edited and adapted from Concentration and Meditation by Swami Paramananda, published in 1921.
WE all possess the faculty of concentration, but with the majority it is instinctive and automatic, not conscious. Even among the animals, we see how a lion or tiger will gather their strength by a moment of absolute stillness before they spring upon their prey.That automatic, instinctive power of concentration is embedded in every living creature. But until we can gain conscious command over our mental and spiritual f…
Sep 4, 2018
C.S. Lewis: Quotes & Wisdom | Inspiration
Listen to episode 297 of the Inspirational Living podcast: C.S. Lewis: Inspirational Quotes & Wisdom. Edited and adapted from the works of C.S. Lewis.
Inspirational Podcast Excerpt: Welcome to the Inspirational Living Podcast, brought to you by the kind financial support of listeners like you. To learn how you can become a patron, please visit LivingHour.org/patron ( https://livinghour.org/patron ). Thank you. Today’s reading was edited and adapted from the works of C.S. Lewis.
“A children's story that can only be enjoyed by children is not a good children's story in the slightest… No book is really worth reading at the age of ten which is not equally – and often far more – worth reading at the age of fifty and beyond… Some day you will be old enough to start reading fairy tales again.”
“We all want progress, but if you're on the wrong road, progress means doing an about-turn and walking back to the right road. In that case, the person who turns back soonest is the m…
Aug 30, 2018
Getting Out of Our Ruts | How to Live Long & Love It
Listen to episode 296 of the Inspirational Living podcast: Getting Out of Ruts | How to Live Long & Love It. Edited and adapted from The Road to Seventy Years Young by Emily Mulkin Bishop, published in 1909.
Inspirational Podcast Excerpt: Welcome to the Inspirational Living podcast. Discover how you can begin developing a lasting positive Mindset with our MAJESTY meditation program. Visit LivingHour.org/majesty ( https://livinghour.org/majesty ). And use the coupon code “inspiration” for a 30% discount.
Today’s reading was edited and adapted from “The Road to Seventy Years Young or The Unhabitual Way” by Emily Mulkin Bishop, published in 1909.
A kind of mental laziness (which for lack of a better term may be called “an inertia of the will”) is, perhaps, the chief cause of old age. It is easy to dawdle mentally, for no action of will is required when the wheels of thought aimlessly revolve in accustomed grooves. Such come-as-you-please thoughts are practically automatic…
Aug 28, 2018
How to Break Bad Habits | Character Building
Listen to episode 295 of the Inspirational Living podcast: How to Break Bad Habits | Character Building. Edited and adapted from the book Within You is the Power by Henry Thomas Hamblin.
Inspirational Podcast Transcript: Welcome to the Inspirational Living podcast, brought to by the generous financial support of listeners like you. If you would like to give back to our podcast in the way of a donation, please visit LivingHour.org/donate ( https://livinghour.org/donate ). Your donation will help ensure the continuation of our podcast for years to come. Thank you.
Today’s reading was edited and adapted from Within You is the Power by Henry Thomas Hamblin, published in 1920.
Character building is the greatest object in life. It has been said that character is the only thing we can take with us when we depart this life. That is perfectly true, therefore the object of all religion, mental training, and spiritual development should be the building of character.
A religion that does not…
Jun 26, 2018
How to Cultivate Courage | Mastering Fear & Anxiety
Listen to episode 277 of the Inspirational Living podcast: How to Cultivate Courage | Mastering Fear & Anxiety. Edited and adapted from “Thoughts Are Things” by Prentice Mulford.
Inspirational Podcast Excerpt: COURAGE and presence of mind mean the same thing — for presence of mind implies command of mind. Cowardice and lack of mental control also mean about the same thing — for cowardice is rooted in hurry, the habit of hurry or lack of repose.
All degrees of success are based on courage — mental or physical. All degrees of failure are based on timidity. You can cultivate courage and increase it at every minute and hour of the day.
You can have the satisfaction of knowing that in everything you do, you have accomplished two things — namely, the doing of the thing itself and (by the manner of its doing), adding eternally to yourself another atom of the quality of courage. You can do this by the cultivation of deliberation — deliberation of speech, of walk, of writing, o…
May 24, 2018
Literary Life Lessons from Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Listen to episode 268 of the Inspirational Living podcast: Literary Life Lessons from Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. Edited and adapted from The Maxims and Reflections of Goethe.
Inspirational Podcast Excerpt: Welcome to the Inspirational Living podcast. I’d like to thank all of you who’ve taken the time to subscribe to our YouTube channel. I’m only about 45 people short of my goal of 1000 subscribers by the end of the month.
So, if you would like to help me out and subscribe, please visit LivingHour.org/youtube ( https://livinghour.org/youtube ). Or simply go to YouTube, search for the Inspirational Living podcast, and click the subscribe button. Thank you.
Today’s reading was edited and adapted from The Maxims and Reflections of Goethe. Translated by T. Bailey Saunders, and published in 1906.
THERE is nothing worth thinking but it has been thought before; we must only try to think it again. In the works of humankind, as in those of nature, it is really the motive which is ch…
May 15, 2018
A Brahmin Guide for Living a Noble Life | Brahman Wisdom
Listen to episode 265 of the Inspirational Living podcast: A Brahmin Guide for Living a Noble Life. Edited and adapted from The Economy of Human Life, translated from an ancient Brahmin manuscript by Robert Dodsley.
Podcast Excerpt: Welcome to the Inspirational Living podcast. With high school and university graduations upon us, you may be looking for the perfect graduation gift. Share a lifetime’s worth of wisdom by giving the new graduate our books of timeless inspirational life lessons—available now in both heirloom hardcover and e-book. Purchase your copies today by visiting our website InspirationalLifeLessons.com ( http://InspirationalLifeLessons.com ). Thank you.
Today’s reading was edited and adapted from The Economy of Human Life, translated from an ancient Brahmin Manuscript by Robert Dodsley, published in 1839.
COMMUNE with yourself and consider for what reason you were made. Contemplate your powers, your wants, and your connections — so that you shall discover th…
May 10, 2018
Gautama Buddha | Inspirational Siddhartha Quotes
Listen to episode 264 of the Inspirational Living podcast: Gautama Buddha | Inspirational Quotes. Edited and adapted from words and thoughts attributed to Gautama Buddha.
Inspirational Podcast Excerpt: Welcome to the Inspirational Living podcast, brought to you by the generous financial support of listeners like you. Gain access to our exclusive series on spiritual growth by becoming our patron today. Learn more about the series Our Sunday Talks by visiting LivingHour.org/Sunday ( https://livinghour.org/sunday ). Thank you.
Today’s reading has been edited and adapted from words and thoughts attributed to Gautama Buddha.
“Thousands of candles can be lit from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened. Happiness never decreases by being shared.”
“Holding on to anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else; you are the one who gets burned.”
“Three things cannot hide for long: the Moon, the Sun and the Truth.”…
Feb 6, 2018
Carl Jung on Life, God & Religion | Psychotherapy
Listen to episode 237 of the Inspirational Living podcast: Carl Jung on Life, God & Religion. Edited and adapted from the work of Carl Jung.
Inspirational Podcast Excerpt: Welcome to the Inspirational Living podcast. Visit our lifestyle brand BookofZen.com to shop for inspirational fashion and gifts. Proceeds help support the production of our podcast. Today’s reading was edited and adapted from the work of Swiss psychologist Carl Jung.
“The decisive question for humanity is: Are we related to something infinite or not? That is the telling question of our lives. Only if we know that the thing which truly matters is the infinite can we avoid fixing our interests upon futilities and upon all kinds of goals which are not of real importance. The more we lay stress on false possessions, and the less sensitivity we have for what is essential, the less satisfying is our life. We feel limited because we have limited aims, and the result is envy and jealousy. If we understand, and feel, t…
Feb 1, 2018
How to Live a Good Life | Lubbock, Seneca, Epictetus
Listen to episode 236 of the Inspirational Living podcast: How to Live a Good Life | Lubbock, Seneca, Epictetus. Edited and adapted from edited and adapted from The Use of Life by Sir John Lubbock.
Inspirational Podcast Excerpt: Welcome to the Inspirational Living podcast. To gain access to the full transcripts of our more than 200 podcasts, please become our monthly patron for less than the price of your favorite Latte. Learn more at LivingHour.org/patron ( http://livinghour.org/patron ). Today’s reading was edited and adapted from The Use of Life by Sir John Lubbock, published in 1894.
The most important thing to learn in life, is how to live. There is nothing people are so anxious to keep as life, and nothing they take so little pains to keep well. This is no simple matter. "Life is short. Art is long. Opportunity fleeting. Experiment uncertain, and Judgment difficult,'' says Hippocrates.
Happiness and success in life do not depend on our circumstances, but on ourselves. More p…
Nov 16, 2017
Wake Up & Live | Mindfulness Exercises | Dorothea Brande
Listen to episode 214 of the Inspirational Living podcast: Wake up & Live | Mindfulness Exercises. Edited and adapted from Wake Up & Live by Dorothea Brande.
Motivational Podcast Excerpt: There are dozens of small ways by which we can make our minds both keener and more flexible – two qualities that are necessary for those who intend to live successfully. We all succumb too easily to the temptation to find a routine which allows us to get our day’s tasks done with a minimum of effort and conscious attention — a fact which might have no unfortunate effects at all if we used the time we save by our routines to a good purpose.
But the cold truth is that we do nothing of the sort. We apply the habit of routines to our whole lives, growing mentally and spiritually more flaccid, more timorous, less experimental with every day we spend supported by the rigidity of habit. Habit takes care of most of our ordinary activities. We get through our work by using only that part of our intelle…
Sep 28, 2017
How to Build Personal Magnetism | Magnetic Charisma
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…
Sep 26, 2017
Sun Tzu: The Art of War | Leadership and Management
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,…
Sep 19, 2017
Arthur Schopenhauer: Quotes, Wisdom & Philosophy Talk
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,…
Aug 31, 2017
Sowing & Reaping | Booker T. Washington
Listen to episode 192 of the Inspirational Living podcast: Sowing & Reaping. Edited and adapted from a book by the same name by Booker T. Washington.
Motivational Podcast Excerpt: What I am about to tell you now is true of all the pursuits of life. We get out of every venture just what we put into it; no more, no less. To attain success we must put forth hard and honest labor. At the back of all success there is hard, persistent labor. There is no royal road — those who think there is always fail.
No person ever reaped any success in life who did not sow wisely. As each person takes up the serious business of life, they must do something — they must labor and wait. In order to reap something, something must be done. Value for value is the real standard of life's exchange of benefits.
Show me someone who is always grumbling, always finding fault with their condition, never satisfied with their opportunities, and I will show you a person who does not appreciate the opportunities i…
Aug 22, 2017
Native American Wisdom | The Girl & Boy Scouts of America
Listen to episode 189 of the Inspirational Living podcast: Native American Wisdom | The Girl & Boy Scouts of America. Adapted from Indian Scout Talks: A Guide for Boy Scouts & Camp Fire Girls by Charles Eastman.
Inspirational Podcast Excerpt: To be in harmony with nature, one must be true in thought, free in action, and clean in body, mind, and spirit. This is the solid granite foundation of character.
Have you ever wondered why most great men and women were born in humble homes and passed their early youth in the open country? There a child is accustomed to see the sun rise and set every day; there the rocks and trees are personal friends; the child’s geography is born with them, for they carry a map of the region in their head.
In civilization, there are many deaf ears and blind eyes. Because the average child in the town has been deprived of close contact and intimacy with nature; what they have learned from books they soon forget, or are unable to apply. All learning is a dead…
Aug 8, 2017
Life is an Adventure: Dare to Live It (Motivational Speeches)
Listen to episode 185 of the Inspirational Living podcast: Life is an Adventure: Dare to Live It. Adapted from The Open Door by Hugh Black.
Inspirational Podcast Excerpt: In faithless and bitter moods, people may sometimes say that there is nothing new under the sun, though we know as fact that there is nothing but the new. Dr. Johnson may say that a blade of grass is always a blade of grass whether in one country or another, but we know that there are no two blades of grass alike even in the same field.
Life speaks to us with many voices, and not one of them without significance. It speaks to us in the world without and in the world within, by the infinitely little and the infinitely great. The human comedy appeals to laughter and tears, pity and pride; and above all it calls to us to be more than mere spectators. We too are in the play, and must make our part in it as it goes along unrehearsed.
By faith the human mind makes its journey through the world for knowledge, and by faith…
Jul 27, 2017
The Art of Becoming You | The Power to Be Oneself
Listen to episode 182 of the Inspirational Living podcast: The Art of Becoming You | The Power to Be Oneself. Adapted from The Aim of Life by Philip Stafford Moxom.
Motivational Podcast Excerpt: The thoughts that I wish to present to you now gather themselves naturally about two simple propositions: The first of these is: Every one ought consciously to have an aim in life. Whether we are conscious of it or not, everyone has a ruling tendency; but everyone should also have a controlling and persistent purpose in life.
No one has a right to live aimlessly, for no one has a right to abandon reason and self-control, and consent to be a mere waif drifting like a plaything of the winds. We are endowed with powers that make us capable of good and often great achievement. We are gifted with reason and conscience and will, in order that we may both become and do that which is noble and beneficent.
In the mythology of the Greeks, Phaethon aspired to drive the flaming chariot of the sun. The t…
Jul 25, 2017
Daily Success Habits | Alternative Talks to Ted
Listen to episode 181 of the Inspirational Living podcast: Daily Success Habits: Be Proactive, Decisive & Tactful. Adapted from Beginning Right (How to Succeed) by Nathaniel C. Fowler.
Motivational Podcast Excerpt: LIFE has three seasons: yesterday, today, and tomorrow. What you did yesterday overlaps into today, and what you do today is carried over into tomorrow. Which is the most important of the three? No single one of them, because any one by itself is incomplete. If you did your duty yesterday, the work of today becomes easier to accomplish. If you attend to the work of today, tomorrow will be open to you and its duties will not be so difficult to perform.
While each day has its place — yesterday, today, and tomorrow — inattention to any one of those days will materially affect the life and action of the remaining two. You cannot recover yesterday. It has passed out of your life forever.
If it was a day of mistakes, they must be corrected today or tomorrow. The importance…
Jun 22, 2017
Emotional Intelligence & Interpretive Dance
Listen to episode 172 of the Inspirational Living podcast: Emotional Intelligence & Interpretive Dance. Edited and adapted from How to Develop Your Personality by Clare Tree Major.
Self-Development Podcast Excerpt: HAVE we forgotten how to feel? Life today is so external that it almost seems as though we have. However, our personal ideal will not be realized unless every part of our nature is developed, the emotional as well as the physical and mental. We must know how to feel, to feel keenly, but also to control our feelings.
Are you looking at a beautiful painting? Don't merely catalogue it in your mind. Sit down before it and let it sink into your soul. See the sunset as a real thing, not as exquisite painted coloring. Go up on the hill-top with the artist. Sit with them there until the vision they saw of the opening of the heavens thrills your own feeling into responsiveness.
There are some feelings that we can neither put into word nor into action, and they are sometimes the ve…
Jun 20, 2017
Soul Growth & Spiritual Evolution (Theosophy)
Listen to episode 171 of the Inspirational Living podcast: Soul Growth & Spiritual Evolution (Theosophy). Edited and adapted from Self-Development & The Way to Power by L.W. Rogers.
Spirituality Podcast Excerpt: Welcome to the Inspirational Living podcast. I’d like to start today with some special news. Starting this Sunday, June 25th, we will be launching a new podcast exclusively for our patrons at Patreon.com. The show is called “Our Sunday Talks” and it will deal with topics related to spirituality from both Eastern and Western perspectives.
While we do touch occasionally on the spiritual on the Inspirational Living podcast, the Our Sunday Talks series will focus on this aspect of life, including discussions on the soul, mystical experiences, enlightenment, love, God, prayer, and much more.
This weekly podcast will be released every Sunday and be available exclusively to those listeners who are sponsoring the Inspirational Living podcast at the $3 a month level or higher.…
Jun 15, 2017
Dare to Laugh & Live | Douglas Fairbanks' Healthy Lifestyle
Listen to episode 170 of the Inspirational Living podcast: Laugh and Live: Douglas Fairbanks' Healthy Lifestyle. Edited and adapted from the work of Douglas Fairbanks Sr.
Self-Help Podcast Excerpt: We must also remember that out of energy and enthusiasm comes something else that must not be neglected ... in fact it must be cultivated and guarded from the very beginning . . . laughter. The mere possession of energy and enthusiasm makes us feel like laughing. We want to leap and jump and dance and sing. If we feel like doing so, don't let us be afraid to do it.
Get out in the air and run like a child. Jump ditches, vault fences, swing the arms! Never fail to get next to nature when responsive to the call. Indeed, we may woo this call from within ourselves until it comes to be second nature.
When we rise in the morning, let us be determined that we will start the day with a hearty laugh. Laugh because you are alive, laugh with everything. Let yourself go. That is the secret — the abi…
Jun 8, 2017
Ben Franklin's Wisdom (Poor Richard's Almanack)
Listen to episode 168 of the Inspirational Living podcast: Ben Franklin’s Wisdom. Edited and adapted from Poor Richard’s Almanack, a yearly publication produced by Benjamin Franklin from 1732 to 1758.
Inspirational Podcast Excerpt: If you could have Half your Wishes, you would double your Troubles.
Anger is never without a Reason, but seldom with a good One.
Tomorrow, every fault is to be amended; but that Tomorrow never comes.
A Fool is one who cannot conceal their Wisdom.
Think of three things: whence you came, where you are going, and to whom you must account.
Pride dines on Vanity, sips on Contempt. The Proud hate Pride – in others, that is.
Well done is better than well said.
Necessity never made a good bargain.
The Sun never repents of the good it does, nor does it ever demand compensation.
Fear to do ill, and you need fear nothing else.
Beware of little expenses; a small leak will sink a great ship.
Search others for their virtues, thyself for thy vices.
Glass…
Jun 6, 2017
How Success is Won by Bernarr Macfadden
Listen to episode 167 of the Inspirational Living podcast: Positive Success Principles: Integrity, Laughter & Love. Edited and adapted from How Success is Won by Bernarr Macfadden.
Motivational Podcast Excerpt: My message today is sent forth with the hope that it will enthuse you who are struggling at the bottom of the ladder of life, and that it may help you to understand that the greatest rewards are easily within reach of those who are willing to struggle on persistently, with a definite and unswerving aim continuously in view.
In the strongest terms, I want to emphasize the importance of interest in your work. I maintain that without it success was never achieved by anyone. The one straight road to success is to learn to love your business. You can do best that which you love best. If you have started in a business which you cannot learn to love, then you should go into some other business. You will never succeed in our age of competition unless you can find real pleasure in your…
May 18, 2017
Confucius Wisdom | The Best Quotes & Sayings
Listen to episode 162 of the Inspirational Living podcast: Confucius Wisdom (The Best Quotes & Sayings) Edited & adapted from The Analects of Confucius.
Inspirational Podcast Excerpt: Do not be desirous of having things done quickly. Do not look at small advantages. Desire to have things done quickly prevents their being done thoroughly. Looking at small advantages prevents great affairs from being accomplished.
Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.
Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated.
A person who has committed a mistake and doesn't correct it is committing another mistake.
Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life.
When anger rises, think of the consequences. It is better to light one small candle than to curse the darkness.
The individual who conquers themselves is the mightiest warrior.
Silence is the true friend that never betrays.
By three methods we may learn wisdom: First,…
May 16, 2017
Yoga & The Science of Breath (Pranayama Yogic Breathing)
Listen to episode 161 of the Inspirational Living podcast: Yoga & The Science of Breath (Pranayama Yogic Breathing). Edited & adapted from The Hindu-Yogi Science of Breath by William Walker Atkinson.
Self-Development Podcast Excerpt: To breathe is to live, and without breath there is no life. Not only are we dependent upon breath for life and health, but all animal life must breathe to live, and plant life is likewise dependent upon the air for continued existence.
The new-born baby draws in a long, deep breath, retains it for a moment to extract from it its life-giving properties, and then exhales it in a long wail, and lo! its life upon earth has begun. The old senior gives a faint gasp, ceases to breathe, and life is over. From the first faint breath of the infant to the last gasp of the dying grandparent, it is one long story of continued breathing. Life is but a series of breaths.
Breathing may be considered the most important of all of the functions of the body, for, indeed, a…
May 9, 2017
The Self-Made Man & Woman - Frederick Douglass
Listen to episode 159 of the Inspirational Living podcast: Self-Made Men & Women. Edited & adapted from a lecture by Frederick Douglass.
Self-Help Podcast ( http://podcast.livinghour.org ) Excerpt: Self-made men and women are those who owe little or nothing to birth, relationship, or friendly surroundings; to wealth inherited or to early approved means of education; who are what they are, without the aid of any favoring conditions by which other people usually rise in the world and achieve great results.
In fact, they are the men and women who are not brought up but who are obliged to come up, not only without the assistance or friendly co-operation of society, but often in open and derisive defiance of all the efforts of society, and the tendency of circumstances to repress, retard, and keep them down.
They are the individuals who (in a world of schools, academies, colleges, and other institutions of learning) are often compelled by unfriendly circumstances to acquire their educati…
May 2, 2017
The Positive Psychology of Success (Being Successful)
Listen to episode 157 of the Inspirational Living podcast: The Positive Psychology of Success (Being Successful). Edited & adapted from The Psychology of Success by Newton N. Riddell.
Self-Help Podcast Excerpt: There are elements of genius in every man and woman that if awakened and trained will enable them to do something worthwhile. There are stores of energy and ambition in every brain that if unlocked and given expression in action will supply the force necessary to bring things to pass.
There are germs of goodness and divinity in every soul that if quickened by love and wrought into character will enable them to live a clean, self-respecting, moral life. Awaken the genius, unlock the energies, quicken the divinity in a person, change them from negative to positive, combine their intellect, energy, and conscience in harmonious expression, and you have given to that person the positive psychology of success.
What is Success? What constitutes success? If we are to see things alike…
Mar 14, 2017
A Guide to Health & Life | Naturopathy | Mahatma Gandhi
Listen to episode 143 of the Inspirational Living podcast: A Guide to Health & Life | Naturopathy. Adapted from “A Guide to Health” by Mahatma Gandhi.
Self-Help Podcast Excerpt: We have got into the habit of calling in a doctor for the most trivial diseases. And where there is no regular doctor available, we take the advice of mere quacks. We labor under the fatal delusion that no disease can be cured without medicine. This has been responsible for more mischief to humankind than any other evil.
It is, of course, necessary that our diseases should be cured, but many cannot be cured by medicines. Not only are medicines often useless, but at times even positively harmful. For a diseased person to take drugs and medicines is often as foolish as to try to cover up the filth that has accumulated in the inside of our house. The more we cover up the filth, the more rapidly does putrefaction go on.
The same is the case with the human body. Illness or disease is Nature's warning that fil…
Dec 29, 2016
Autosuggestion & Self-Mastery (Emile Coué)
Listen to episode 122 of the Inspirational Living podcast: Autosuggestion & Self-Mastery. Adapted from the book Self-Mastery Through Conscious Autosuggestion by Emile Coué.
Motivational Podcast ( http://podcast.livinghour.org ) Excerpt: Suggestion, or rather Autosuggestion, is quite a new subject, and yet at the same time it is as old as the world. It is new in the sense that until now it has been wrongly studied and in consequence wrongly understood; it is old because it dates from the appearance of human beings on earth. In fact, autosuggestion is an instrument that we possess at birth, and in this instrument, or rather in this force, resides a marvelous and incalculable power, which according to circumstances produces the best or the worst results.
Knowledge of this force is useful to each one of us, but it is especially indispensable to doctors, judges, lawyers, and to those engaged in the work of education. By knowing how to practice autosuggestion consciously it is possible, i…
Dec 6, 2016
Ralph Waldo Emerson - Self-Reliance
Motivational Podcast ( http://podcast.livinghour.org ) Excerpt: Listen to episode 115 of the Inspirational Living podcast: Ralph Waldo Emerson’s Self-Reliance. Adapted from the famous essay by Ralph Waldo Emerson.
Life is now. Power exists not in repose, but in that moment of transition from the past to a new state of being. This is the one fact that the world hates, that the soul becomes; for this knowledge forever degrades the past, turns all riches to poverty, all reputation to shame, and shoves the saint and sinner equally aside.
The soul requires self-reliance. Because self-reliance is power. And power is in nature the essential measure of life. We are in desperate need of greater self-reliance throughout our society: in our religions; in our schools and universities; in our work and ways of living; in our governments, and more. Remember to always follow your inner genius and never imitate.
Your own unique talents are something that you can offer others at every moment with t…
Nov 29, 2016
The Majesty of Calmness - William George Jordan
Listen to episode 113 of the Inspirational Living podcast: The Majesty of Calmness. Adapted from a book of the same name by William George Jordan ( https://www.facebook.com/WilliamGeorgeJordan/ ).
Motivational Podcast Excerpt: Hurry is the deathblow to calmness, to dignity, to poise. Hurry means the breakdown of the nerves. It is the royal road to perpetual worry. Everything that is great in life is the product of slow growth; the newer, and greater, and higher, and nobler the work, the slower is its growth, the surer is its lasting success.
Mushrooms attain their full power in a night; oaks require decades. A fad lives its life in a few weeks; a philosophy lives through generations and centuries. If you are sure you are right, do not let the voice of the world, or of friends, or of family swerve you for a moment from your purpose. Accept slow growth if it must be slow, and know the results must come, as you would accept the long, lonely hours of the night — with absolute assurance…
Nov 10, 2016
Tao Te Ching - Lao Tzu (Laozi) - Taoist Wisdom
Listen to episode 108 of the Inspirational Living podcast: Tao Te Ching. Edited and adapted from Dwight Goddard’s translation of the Lao Tzu’s ( http://www.chebucto.ns.ca/Philosophy/Taichi/lao.html ) classic book Tao Te Ching.
Spirituality Podcast Excerpt: The Tao has three treasures which it guards and cherishes. The first is called compassion; the second is called economy; the third is called humility. A person who is compassionate can 'be truly brave; a person who is economical can be truly generous; a person who is humble can become a useful servant.
If we discard compassion and are still brave, abandon economy and are still generous, forsake humility and still seek to be serviceable, our days are numbered. On the other hand, if we are truly compassionate, in battle we will be a conqueror and in defense we will be secure. When even Heaven helps people it is because of compassion that she does so.
My words are very easy to understand and very easy to put into practice, yet in…
Nov 3, 2016
Is There Life After Death? | Swami Abhedananda
Listen to episode 106 of the Inspirational Living podcast: Is There Life After Death? Edited and adapted from “Does the Soul Exist After Death?” by Swami Abhedananda. Spiritual Podcast Excerpt: From ancient times there have been thinkers in India who denied the existence of the soul after the death of the body. They are known as Charvákas. They believe that the body is the soul, and that the soul does not exist outside of the body, and that when the body dies, the soul is also dead and gone. They believe in nothing that cannot be perceived by the senses. The followers of such thinkers are spreading very rapidly, and their number is increasing every day. They are now known as atheists, materialists, etc. According to this class of thinkers, those who believe in the existence of the soul as separate from the body, or in a life after death, are ignorant and superstitious fools, while those who follow their ideas are clever and intelligent beings. Most of them hold that there is no su…
Oct 11, 2016
Inspirational Quotes | The Meditations by Marcus Aurelius
Listen to episode 99 of the Inspirational Living podcast: Inspirational Quotes & Meditations On Life. Edited and adapted from The Meditations by Marcus Aurelius.
*Self-Help Podcast* ( http://podcast.livinghour.org ) *Excerpt* : What can shake your belief in the goodness of humankind? The cruelty of others? Remember that we have come here for each other, and that people act out of ignorance. Have mercy on them. Have faith. Everything happens within a larger Order. You will find this to be true if you watch the world carefully. Don’t look at things the way wrong-doers do. Don’t look at things as wrong-doers want you too, either. Instead, strive to see things in truth, as they really are. Never value the things that will force you to lie, lose self-respect, hate, or deceive.
Whoever values peace of mind and the health of the soul will live the best of all possible lives. Oh, how peaceful it is to stop looking at what our neighbors say and do and think, and simply strive to bring our…
Sep 21, 2016
How to Be Self-Confident | Overcoming the Confidence Gap
Listen to episode 94 of the Inspirational Living podcast: How to Be Self-Confident (Overcoming the Confidence Gap). Edited and adapted from Psychology & Higher Life by William McKeever, published in 1905.
*Self-Development Podcas* *t* ( http://podcast.livinghour.org ) *Excerpt* : The self-confident person, of necessity, believes in other people. Old as I am, it stirs me up to put forth greater effort to have people believe in me. The ordinary little child will do their utmost to come up to the standard fixed for them by the expressed opinions of their elders. The self-reliant person, therefore, is a benefactor of his or her associates. It is such an easy matter to drift down to the level of a gossip, and later to that of a defamer of character, and finally to that of the chronic misanthrope.
If one goes about looking for the meanness in other people's character, you can surely find it. But so can you find the good — more of it than you can enumerate in a lifetime. Happy indeed is t…
Sep 19, 2016
How to Be Successful & Influence Others to Succeed
Listen to episode 93 of the Inspirational Living podcast: How to Be Successful & Influence Others to Succeed. Edited and adapted from The Majesty of Calmness by William George Jordan ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_George_Jordan ).
*Inspirational Podcast Excerpt* : In every moment of life, we are changing to a degree the life of the whole world. Every person has an atmosphere which is affecting every other. So silent and unconsciously is this influence working, that we may forget that it exists. All the forces of Nature — heat, light, electricity, and gravitation — are silent and invisible. We never see them; we only know that they exist by seeing the effects they produce. In all Nature, the wonders of the "seen" are dwarfed into insignificance, when compared with the majesty and glory of the "unseen".
In a thousand ways, Nature constantly seeks to lead us to a keener and deeper realization of the power and the wonder of the invisible. Into the hands of every individual i…
Sep 14, 2016
Mental & Physical Fitness: Get Fit, Motivated & Inspired
Listen to episode 92 of the Inspirational Living podcast: Mental & Physical Fitness: Get Fit, Motivated & Inspired. Edited and adapted from Assuming Responsibilities by Douglas Fairbanks.
*Motivational Podcast Excerpt* : The person who rises in the morning from a healthy slumber and plunges into the bath after some vigorous exercise is prepared to undertake anything. Their world seems fair, and though the sun may not be shining literally, it is to all intents and purposes. Thus, they go swinging along with a cheery smile, carrying the message of hope and joy to all those with whom they come in contact.
Of course, mental fitness is equally important to physical fitness. And the character of a man and woman expresses itself by the books they read. Every well-informed person since the invention of the printing press has been a close reader of a few books that stand out from among the many. We read of Lincoln devouring the few books he had over and over again and studying from cover to c…
Aug 31, 2016
The Art of Being a Gentleman & Lady (Style & Charm)
Listen to episode 90 of the Inspirational Living podcast: How to Be a Gentleman & Lady. Edited and adapted from The Man Who Pleases and The Woman Who Fascinates by John Albert Cone.
*Inspirational Podcast Excerpt* : It is almost the definition of a gentleman and lady to say that they are ones who never inflict pain. They carefully avoid whatever may cause a jar or a jolt in the minds of those with whom they are with, keeping an eye on the sensibilities of all their company. They are tender toward the bashful, gentle toward the distant, and merciful toward the absurd. They avoid unreasonable allusions on topics which may irritate; they are seldom prominent in conversation, and never wearisome.
Another delightful trait of the true lady and gentleman is that they make light of favors when they bestow them, and seem to be receiving when they are conferring. They never speak of themselves except when compelled, never defend themselves by a mere retort. They have no ears for slander or gos…
Aug 29, 2016
Inspirational Life Lessons For Adults (Young & Old)
Listen to episode 89 of the Inspirational Living podcast: Inspirational Life Lessons for Adults (Young & Old). Edited and adapted from Our Sunday Talks by James J. Owen.
*Self-Help Podcast Excerpt* : The materialist may balk at talk of the soul — for they view the physical world as the all in all of the universe. They see reality only in those coarser forms of matter that appeal to the physical senses. In fact, they deny the existence of any and everything that their senses cannot grasp, forgetting that there may be keener senses than those of their own organism.
We use the term "coarser forms of matter" because to the undeveloped mind, those are the only forms that make an impact upon the senses. But science is constantly unfolding new and imponderable forms of which the senses take no note. Traversing the field of matter, it enters a new and unexplored domain which seemingly lies outside the boundaries of matter. And here in a maze of subtle forces and forms, the unfolded mind is…
Aug 24, 2016
Simple Life Habits & The Book of Joy
Listen to episode 88 of the Inspirational Living podcast: Simple Life Habits & Cultivating Joy. Edited and adapted from The Simple Life by Charles Wagner ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Wagner ).
*Inspirational Podcast Excerpt* : Wherever life is simple and sane, true pleasure accompanies it as fragrance does uncultivated flowers. Even when this life hard, hampered, devoid of all things ordinarily considered as the very conditions of pleasure, the rare and delicate plant, joy, flourishes there. It springs up between the flags of the pavement, on an arid wall, in the fissure of a rock. We ask ourselves how it comes, and whence: but it lives. No one seems to doubt the immense human interest attached to joy. It is a sacred flame that must be fed, and it throws a splendid radiance over life.
The individual who takes pains to foster it accomplishes a work as profitable for humanity as those who build bridges, pierce tunnels, invent technology, or cultivate the ground. To order one…
Aug 17, 2016
How to Meditate & Visualize (Entering the Silence)
Listen to episode 86 of the Inspirational Living podcast: How to Meditate & Visualize. Edited and adapted from The Key to Health, Wealth & Love by Julia Seton.
*Self-Help Podcast Transcript* : At some time or another in our lives, we all come to a place where two or more paths open up for us, and we stand at the cross-roads undecided which way to go. There is no friend near to whom we can seek advice. It is here, that the person who has developed the power of meditation (of inner communion), can rest awhile and find within themselves the solution to all difficulties.
This inner adviser has been called "The still small voice,” "Our Higher Self,” and many other symbolical terms which have served their purpose to awaken the mind to the existence of an inner consciousness. But whatever we name it, it is that guidance we gain when we can control our objective senses and link our mind with the Universal storehouse of knowledge.
This Infinite source is the place where all may, if they…
Aug 15, 2016
Modern Manners & The Power of Courtesy (Etiquette)
Listen to episode 85 of the Inspirational Living podcast: Modern Manners & The Power of Courtesy (Etiquette). Edited and adapted from How to be Happy Though Civil by E.J. Hardy.
*Inspirational Podcast Excerpt* : The two chief rules for manners are, first: think of others; and second: do not think of yourself. And these cannot be carried out without sympathy. We must be able to go out of ourselves and realize the feelings and circumstances of another if we would confer pleasure and avoid inflicting pain. It is want of sympathy which constitutes the hard individual---the one who (without committing anything that might be called a fault) rides roughly over the most sensitive feelings of your nature.
Good manners is the art of putting our associates at ease. Whoever makes the fewest persons uncomfortable is the best-mannered person in a room, and also the most tactful. Most of us have a notion of what tact is, but it is difficult to define it. The word is derived from the Latin for "to t…
Aug 8, 2016
Karma Yoga & The Goal of Life | Swami Vivekananda
Listen to episode 83 of the Inspirational Living podcast: Karma Yoga & The Goal of Life. Edited and adapted from a lecture by Swami Vivekananda ( http://www.belurmath.org/swamivivekananda.htm ).
*Spirituality Podcast Excerpt* : The word Karma is derived from the Sanskrit "Kri”, meaning to do. Everything that is done is Karma. Technically, the word Karma also means the effects of actions. In connection with metaphysics, it sometimes means the effects of which our past actions were the causes. But in Karma Yoga, the word ''Karma" simply means work.
The goal of all human-kind is knowledge. That is the one ideal placed before us by Eastern philosophy. Pleasure is not the ultimate goal, but knowledge. Pleasure and happiness come to an end. The cause of all the miseries we have in the world is that we foolishly think pleasure to be the ideal — but after a time, we find that it is not happiness but knowledge towards where we are going, and that both pleasure and pain are great teachers,…
Aug 1, 2016
How to Sleep Well - Getting a Good Night's Sleep
Listen to episode 81 of the Inspirational Living podcast: How to Sleep Well. Edited and adapted from Peace, Power, and Plenty by Orison Swett Marden ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orison_Swett_Marden ).
*Inspirational Podcast Excerpt* : Never allow yourself, under any circumstances, to retire in a discouraged, despondent, gloomy mood, or in a fit of temper. Never lie down with a frown on your brow; with a perplexed, troubled expression on your face. Smooth out the wrinkles; drive away grudges, jealousies, all the enemies of your peace of mind. Let nothing tempt you to go to sleep with an unkind, critical, jealous thought toward another person.
It is bad enough to feel unkindly toward others when under severe provocation, or when in a hot temper, but you cannot afford to deliberately continue this state of mind after the provocation has stopped and thus spoil your sleep. You cannot afford the wear and tear. It takes too much out of you. Life is too short, time too precious to spend a…
Jul 27, 2016
Do Your Best & Love Much (The Power of Love)
Listen to episode 80 of the Inspirational Living podcast: Do Your Best & Love Much. Edited and adapted from The Pathway of Roses by Christian D. Larson ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_D._Larson ).
*Spiritual Podcast Excerpt* : We have looked far and wide for the remedies to our problems, but in our search we have overlooked one of the greatest of all; and that is love. Not the love of the person; not mere sentiment or emotion, but that strong, spiritual feeling that makes every atom in your being thrill with the purest sympathy and the highest kindness; and that makes you feel that every creature in existence deserves your most tender care and attention.
When everything goes wrong with us, we blame fate, environment, or the world. We forget that the world does to us what we have done to the world. When we blame the world for everything, the world will so act that it is to blame; but when we love the entire world with our whole heart, the world will change toward us accordin…
Jul 26, 2016
The Healthy Benefits of Aging | Aging Well with Grace
Listen to episode 79 of the Inspirational Living podcast: The Healthy Benefits of Aging (Aging Well with Grace). Edited and adapted from Essays of an Optimist by John William Kaye ( http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/webbin/book/lookupname?key=Kaye%2C+John+William%2C+Sir%2C+1814-1876 ).
*Inspirational Podcast Excerpt* : One of the great advantages of age is that we are not wont to disturb ourselves by doing things that we do not like, simply for the look of the thing. There is absolute misery in pretentiousness of all kinds, and youth is infinitely more pretentious than age.
There are some people who never outlive their vanity; but, as a general rule, it may be maintained that the longer we live, the less we care what others think of us, and the less we strive after effect. We learn, in time, how little we can ever know, and how ridiculous we make ourselves by pretending to know everything. When we have learned to say, "I am as ignorant as a child on this or that subject" or, "as p…
Jul 20, 2016
Awaken the Sleeping Giant | The Power Within
Listen to episode 78 of the Inspirational Living podcast: Awaken the Sleeping Giant (The Power Within). Edited and adapted from New Thought Healing Made Plain by Kate Atkinson Boehme.
*Motivational Podcast Excerpt* : The human being has always had many hitherto undiscovered powers, the horizon of the Impossible continually receding as we advance upon it. Let your limit line of belief, separating the possible from the impossible, be to you like the horizon line, which is really no line at all. It is merely where your sight stops, and depends upon the point where you stand. Advance and your horizon moves with you, showing a beyond not before visible.
Someone else may tell you that your ideals are impossible to realize. This I also deny, for I know beyond all doubt that nothing is impossible that your mind can fashion or your heart long for. The impossible is only that which you fail to reach by stopping at the fatigue point because your mind is weary of waiting and hoping, and stops sh…
Jul 18, 2016
The Bright Side of Life | Guide for a Rational Optimist
Listen to episode 77 of the Inspirational Living podcast: The Bright Side of Life (Guide for a Rational Optimist). Edited and adapted from Character Building by Booker T. Washington ( http://www.biography.com/people/booker-t-washington-9524663 ).
*Educational Podcast Excerpt* : If you want to be happy, if you want to live a contented life, if you want to live a life of genuine pleasure, do something for somebody else. When you feel unhappy, disagreeable, and miserable, go to someone else who is miserable and do that person an act of kindness, and you will find that you will be made happy.
The miserable persons in this world are the ones whose hearts are narrow and hard; the happy ones are those who have great big hearts. Such persons are always happy. Now, this is not to say, you won’t have difficulties, nor face obstacles and discouragement. You most certainly will. But I would suggest to you that such difficulties, as an element in life, are for a purpose.
I do not believe that…
Jul 13, 2016
How to Become a Well Rounded Person (Optimal Living)
Listen to episode 76 of the Inspirational Living podcast: How to Be a Well Rounded Person. Edited and adapted from Essays on Work and Culture by Hamilton Wright Mabie.
*Inspirational Podcast Excerpt* : Wherever you may find your place and whatever work may come to your hand, you must always be aware of the larger movement of life which encloses your special task. You must have the consciousness of that central power from which all activities are inadequate manifestations. You must remain open to the whole range of human interests, and never escape the conviction that life is a unity under all its complexities; that all activities stand vitally related to each other; that truth, beauty, knowledge, and character must be harmonized and blended in every real and adequate development of the human spirit. To the growth of every flower, the earth, sun, and atmosphere must contribute. In the making of an individual, all the rich forces of nature and civilization must have place....
Support t…
Jul 11, 2016
What is Your Ambition? (Finding Your Life's Purpose)
Listen to episode 75 of the Inspirational Living podcast: What is Your Ambition? (Finding Your Life's Purpose). Edited and adapted from Personal Efficiency by James Samuel Knox.
*Self-Help Podcast Excerpt* : The individual of definite purpose is the person of conquering spirit. They are the leaders and the molders of our environment. They set the pace for others and point the way. They know which way they are traveling, and why they are traveling, because they have a vision. They can see the end from the beginning, because they have created it in their imagination.
Show me a young person who has set their definite mark, who has driven their imaginary stake, who has created within their imagination the position they propose to fill twenty years hence, and I shall show you someone who will work out in real life the pictures they first created in their imagination. But set no mark, dream no dream, build no air castles, have no definite aim, no vision of a larger self and a larger life,…
Jul 6, 2016
Creating Harmony and Success - Healthy Living
Listen to episode 74 of the Inspirational Living podcast: Creating Harmony and Success. Edited and adapted from Success Through Thought Habit by Benjamin Johnson.
*Inspirational Podcast Excerpt* : "Secure Harmony First" is the best advice---for where Harmony exists, there can be no nervous tension, sorrow, bitterness, recrimination, resentment, unhappiness, envy, or anger. Instead there will be exemplified peace of mind, health of body, a contented spirit, freedom from want and abundance for all desires.
The very word "Harmony" is in itself a marvelous combination of sounds. There is something strangely soothing about it, a hidden meaning that implies far more than the accepted definition of being in accord with things. It seems to hint at latent power. And just as any observer notes that harmonious sounds will control, influence, and uplift an audience, so a truly harmonious personality influences everyone for good and leaves a memory full of inspiration.
John Ruskin once said, "Hu…
Jul 4, 2016
How to Improve Your Personality | Me Plus You
Listen to episode 73 of the Inspirational Living podcast: How to Improve Your Personality (Me Plus You). Edited and adapted from Laugh and Live by Douglas Fairbanks ( http://www.biography.com/people/douglas-fairbanks-sr-9290911 ).
*Self-Help Podcast Excerpt* : Nothing brings a greater self-reward than a service done in an hour of need, or a favor granted during a day's grind. The generous person who climbs to the top of the ladder helps many others on their way. The more we do for someone else, the more we do for ourselves. The stronger we become—the greater our influence in our communities. Doing things for others may not bring in bankable dividends but it does bring in happiness. Such actions scorn a monetary reward. We have only to try this out to learn the truth for ourselves.
A good place to begin is at home--then, the office, or wherever life leads us. In doing these things we will laugh as we go along—we will laugh and get the most out of living. Our little day-by-day kind…
Jun 29, 2016
The Science of Eternal Life | Nature's Immortality
Listen to episode 72 of the Inspirational Living podcast: The Science of Eternal Life. Edited and adapted from The Philosophy of Long Life ( https://www.forgottenbooks.com/en/books/The_Philosophy_of_Long_Life_1000061435 ) by Jean Finot. Educational Podcast Excerpt: Grizzly bears, when they wake after their hibernation, at once destroy their stored up provisions. Without destruction there is no vital creation. Without death there is no life. Organic creation, Life, is unimaginable without the physico-chemical phenomena of destruction. Always and everywhere death and life succeed each other, and mingle in a mysterious embrace. There are as many of the principles of life in death as principles of death in life. We might express their curious intimacy by a formula of the precision of a chemical combination: Life-Death applying to life, and Death-Life summing up the essence of death. The principle of life seems so deeply rooted in organized bodies that it ends up triumphant, in spite of all…
Jun 27, 2016
Discipline Your Mind with The Power of Self-Discipline
Listen to episode 71 of the Inspirational Living podcast: Discipline Your Mind with The Power of Self-Discipline. Edited and adapted from How to Develop Your Will Power by Clare Tree Major. Inspirational Podcast ( http://podcast.livinghour.org ) Excerpt: Self-control is emotional control. Like all forces inherent in human nature, the emotional forces work equally thoroughly in either direction, as builders or as destroyers. You are, whether you like it or not, dealing with forces, with laws, with energy, which must expend themselves, must carry out their predestined mission — forces as blind and as inevitable as the forces of electricity or the laws of gravitation. You must either be hurled to destruction by them, or you must control and use them. You cannot escape them. They are part of your nature. The more vital and intense your nature, the greater your possibilities of power. The fact that you are awake enough to be interested in self-development is sufficient proof of your own p…
Jun 23, 2016
The Keys to Success & Motivation | B.C. Forbe's Manifesto
Listen to episode 70 of the Inspirational Living podcast: The Keys to Success & Motivation | B.C. Forbe's Manifesto. Edited and adapted from The Keys to Success by B.C. Forbes ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B._C._Forbes ).
*Motivational Podcast Excerpt* : Nobody can hand you a ready-made key to open the door of success. You must fashion your own key and find the combination of the lock for yourself. No magician can waft you to the heights of fortune and fame. You cannot fly there on the wings of an airplane. The road, often rocky, has to be traversed on foot. You, and you alone, can supply the motive power. You, and you alone, must put forth the necessary exertion.
No one can remove from your shoulders the burden of the effort. You must do your own climbing. Nor are there any mystic short-cuts. The full distance must be honestly, even painstakingly traveled. While there are no escalators to the hilltop of success, and while every man and woman must do his and her own climbing, yet t…
Jun 21, 2016
The Optimist's Guide to Living the Philosophy of Optimism
Listen to episode 69 of the Inspirational Living podcast: The Optimist's Guide to Living the Philosophy of Optimism. Edited and adapted from Helen Keller’s essay on optimism.
*Inspirational Podcast Excerpt* : Although there are still great evils which have not been subdued (and the optimist is not blind to them), we are yet full of hope. Despondency has no place in our creed, for we believe in the imperishable dignity of every man and every woman. History records humanity’s ascent. Each halt in our progress has been but a pause before a mighty leap forward.
Our present time is not out of joint. If indeed some of the temples we worshiped in have fallen, we will build new ones on the sacred sites, loftier and wiser than those which have crumbled. If we are losing some of the heroic physical qualities of our ancestors, we shall replace them with a spiritual nobleness that turns aside wrath and binds up the wounds of the vanquished. All the past attainments of humankind are ours; and…
Jun 16, 2016
The Secret Power of Imagination - Personal Transformation
Listen to episode 68 of the Inspirational Living podcast: The Secret Power of Imagination. Edited and adapted from The Power of Awareness by Neville Goddard ( https://freeneville.com/neville-goddard-wiki/ ).
*Self-Help Podcast Excerpt* : Your consciousness is all that you think and desire and love, all that you believe is true and consent to. That is why a change of consciousness is necessary before you can change your outer world. Rain falls as a result of a change in the temperature in the higher regions of the atmosphere. So, in like manner, a change of circumstance happens as a result of a change in your state of consciousness.
To be transformed, the whole basis of your thoughts must change. But your thoughts cannot change unless you have new ideas, for you think from your ideas. All transformation begins with an intense, burning desire to be transformed. The first step in the “renewing of the mind” is desire. You must want to be different (and intend to be different) before…
Jun 14, 2016
The Man in the Arena - Theodore Roosevelt (Motivational Speeches)
Listen to episode 67 of the Inspirational Living podcast: Leadership, Character & Democracy. Edited and adapted from a speech by Teddy Roosevelt.
*Motivational Podcast Excerpt* : It is not the critic who counts; not the one who points out how the strong person has stumbled, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the men and women who are actually in the arena, whose faces are marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strive valiantly; who err; who come short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming.
These are the brave souls who actually strive to DO the deeds; who know great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spend themselves in a worthy cause; who at the best knows the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if they fail, at least fail while daring greatly, so that their place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.
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Jun 9, 2016
The Way of Wonder - Classic Self-Help Inspiration
Listen to episode 66 of the Inspirational Living podcast: The Way of Wonder. Edited and adapted from a classic book of essays by Stephen Page t ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Paget ).
*Educational Podcast Excerpt* : This much I remember of Aristotle, that he calls Wonder the beginning of the love of Wisdom. To have a right judgment of our surroundings, we must wonder at them, and be surprised that they and we are met together. So long as we exercise this quickening sense of wonder, there is hope for us, and some justification of our presence here on earth---because we all are on the road that leads toward wisdom. And they alone are incorrigible fools to whom Nature comes natural.
Once we have fallen into the bad habit of taking for granted what Nature gives us, and have ceased to be amazed, it may be fairly said that in the midst of life we are in death. For one might as well be dead as alive, to look with dull eyes at the world, not finding it wonderful....
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Jun 7, 2016
How to Stop Worrying | Start Living Anxiety Free
Listen to episode 65 of the Inspirational Living podcast: How to Stop Worrying (Start Living Anxiety Free). Edited and adapted from: Your Right to Be Happy by Frank & Marion Van Eps.
*Self-Help Podcast Excerpt* : You might be ready to embark on a new enterprise, but your imagination conjures up all sorts of obstacles and difficulties, and you are afraid to begin, lest you fail. But this is, actually, just where the turn of success is made. Daniel Webster, when he first started in his career as a lawyer, felt as if he were utterly incompetent and could never succeed. But he persevered and did not run away or give up, and he eventually became one of the most famous American statesmen of the 19th century. Had he yielded to that feeling of fear, he would never have amounted to anything; but having overcome that, all things were set in his favor.
On the eve of any great achievement, it is not unusual to feel the most like a failure or that your goals are unreachable. It is this point of a…
Jun 1, 2016
Persuasion, Influence & Reason (Science of the Mind)
Listen to episode 64 of the Inspirational Living podcast: Persuasion, Influence & Reason (Science of the Mind). Adapted from a classic book by the same title by William Macpherson.
*Educational Podcast Excerpt* : Humanity has been described as a reasoning animal; and everyone likes to think that the description applies to them. In reality, we do not, usually, act rationally in the sense that we first carefully calculate the means to realize our objectives, and only then act. Even when we do make such calculations, the fundamental source of our actions is always some instinct or emotion that they seek to satisfy.
To say this is to say nothing derogatory about human nature. Indeed, as we all know, to act on impulse is often much more respectable than to act from reasoned calculation. If much of the wrong-doing of the world may be attributed to the uncontrolled working of selfish impulses, it should also be remembered that impulse is the source of art and science, and of many of the bes…
May 31, 2016
Living a Magical Life: Creative Motivation for Inspired People
Listen to episode 63 of the Inspirational Living podcast: Living a Magical Life: Creative Motivation for Inspired People. Adapted from the book Concentration: The Key to Constructive Thought by C. W. Kyle.
*Inspirational Podcast Excerpt* : The supreme lesson of life is that of self-realization. You are living in a world of magic. You have more power within you than that of any wizard whom you have read or dreamed about. Wake up! Learn who you are before you condemn yourself to a further life of inaction and inefficiency. To come to recognize yourself is the best elixir of life you will ever know.
It will take a psychological operation to rid you of your self-imposed limitations. Well, here it is. Words have a magic power. You have made yourself just what you are, and you have the power to change yourself into a being greater and more powerful than it is possible for you to conceive. You are possessed of unlimited powers. And if limited you now are, you, yourself, have raised the wall…
May 25, 2016
How to See, Hear & Remember | William Walker Atkinson
Listen to episode 62 of the Inspirational Living podcast: How to See, Hear, and Remember. Adapted from “Memory: How to Develop, Train, and Use It” by William Walker Atkinson.
*Educational Podcast Excerpt* : The trouble with most of us is that we have been looking without seeing— gazing but not observing. The objects around you have been out of your mental focus. If you will but change your mental focus, by means of will and attention, you will be able to cure yourself of the careless methods of seeing and observing that have been hindrances to your success.
We have been blaming forgetfulness on our memories, but the fault is with our perception. How can the memory remember, when it is not given anything in the way of clear impressions? We have been like young infants in this matter— now it is time for you to begin to “sit up and take notice” no matter how old you may be.
The whole thing in a nut-shell is this: In order to remember the things that pass before your sight,…
May 23, 2016
The Law of Compensation & Karma - Daily Wisdom
Listen to episode 61 of the Inspirational Living podcast: The Law of Compensation & Karma. Adapted from Ralph Waldo Emerson’s essay “Compensation".
*Inspirational Podcast Excerpt* : The universe is represented in every one of its particles. Everything in nature contains all the powers of nature. Everything is made of one hidden stuff. Every occupation, trade, art, transaction, is a compendium of the world, and a correlative of every other. Each individual is an entire emblem of human life; of its good and ill, its trials, its enemies, its course, and its end. And each one must somehow reside within the whole person, and deliver his or her destiny.
The world globes itself in a drop of dew. So do we put our life into every act. The true doctrine of omnipresence is that God reappears completely in every blade of grass and every cobweb. The value of the universe contrives to throw itself into every point. If the good is there, so is the evil; if the affinity, so the repulsion; if the…
May 18, 2016
The Power of Spoken Words | Positive Psychology
Listen to episode 60 of the Inspirational Living podcast: The Power of Spoken words. Adapted from Your Forces and How to Use Them by Christian D. Larson.
*Motivational Podcast Excerpt* : In daily conversation, the law of constructive speech should be conscientiously applied. What we say to others will determine to a considerable degree what they are to think, and what tendencies their mental actions are to follow; and since we are the product of our thoughts, conversation becomes a most important factor in the development of ourselves and others.
We steadily grow into the likeness of that which we think of the most, and what we are to think about depends largely upon the mode, the nature and the subject matter of our conversation. When conversation originates or intensifies the tendency to think about the wrong, the ordinary or the inferior, it becomes destructive, and likewise it tends to keep before mind the faults and defects that may exist in human nature.
To be constructive, co…
May 16, 2016
Overcoming Adversity with Optimism | Hellen Keller
Listen to episode 59 of the Inspirational Living podcast: Overcoming Adversity with Optimism. Adapted from the essay Optimism by Helen Keller.
*Motivational Podcast Excerpt* : A poet once said that I must be happy because I do not see the bare, cold present, but live in a beautiful dream. I do live in a beautiful dream; but that dream is the actual, the present —not cold, but warm; not bare, but furnished with a thousand blessings. The very evil which the poet supposed would be a cruel disillusionment is necessary to the fullest knowledge of joy. Only by contact with evil could I have learned to feel by contrast the beauty of truth and love and goodness.
It is a mistake always to contemplate the good and ignore the evil, because by making people neglectful it lets in disaster. There is a dangerous optimism of ignorance and indifference. It is not enough to say that the twenty-first century is the best age in the history of mankind, and to take refuge from the evils of the world in…
May 11, 2016
The Joy of Selfless Love (Inspirational & Spiritual Living)
Listen to episode 58 of the Inspirational Living podcast: The Joy of Selfless Love. Adapted from The Way of Peace by James Allen.
*Spiritual Podcast Excerpt* : Divine or selfless Love is not a mere sentiment or emotion; it is a state of knowledge which destroys the dominion of evil and the belief in evil, and lifts the soul into the joyful realization of the supreme Good. To the divinely wise, knowledge and Love are one and inseparable. There is no arbitrary power in the universe, and the strongest chains of fate by which we are bound are self-forged.
We are chained to that which causes suffering because we desire to be so, because we love our chains, because we think our little dark prison of self is sweet and beautiful, and are afraid that if we desert that prison we will lose all that is real and worth having.
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May 9, 2016
The Art of Happiness & Change (Getting Past Your Past)
Listen to episode 57 of the Inspirational Living podcast: The Art of Happiness & Change (Getting Past Your Past). Adapted from The Wonders of Life by Ida Luella Rettinghouse Lyon.
*Self-Help Podcast Excerpt* : "Deal gently with the old, for they have come a long way; and be kind to the young, for they have a long journey before them." I do not know to whom we owe this excellent advice, but it is a beautiful thought well expressed. There are delightful old people who have kept their hearts young and hopeful amidst the changes and disappointments which the passing years have brought; men and women who are charming companions for the young or old.
It is not always those who have had the most trying experiences who have acquired a hard and bitter feeling, and have convinced themselves that they are ill-used and the victims of an unkind fate. It is, in most cases, those who have lived and who still live for themselves alone, and have thus missed half — indeed, more than half — of the…
May 4, 2016
The Magic of Possibilities | Thinking Big For Success
Listen to episode 56 of the Inspirational Living podcast: The Magic of Possibilities (Thinking Big For Success). Adapted from The Power of Purpose by William George Jordan.
*Inspirational Podcast Excerpt* : We are placed into life not a finality, but a beginning; not a manufactured article, but raw material; not a statue, but an unpolished stone, ready alike for the firm chisel of defined purpose or the subtle attrition of circumstances and conditions.
It is only what you make of yourself that really counts. You must disinfect your mind from that weakening thought that you have an absolutely predetermined capacity, like a freight-car with its weight and tonnage painted on the side. You are growing, expansive, unlimited: self-adjusting to increased responsibility, progressively able for large duties and higher possibilities as you realize them and live up to them. You should feel this sense of the limitless — physically, mentally, morally, spiritually.
There is none so obscure that…
May 2, 2016
Using the Law of Attraction - Money, Love & Success
Listen to episode 55 of the Inspirational Living podcast: Using the Law of Attraction. Adapted from The Creative Mind & Success by Ernest Holmes.
*Motivational Podcast Excerpt* : Every person is surrounded by a thought atmosphere. This mental atmosphere is the direct result of thought, which in its turn becomes the direct reason for the cause of that which comes into our lives. Through this power we are either attracting or repelling. Like attracts like and we attract to us just what we are in mind. It is also true that we become attracted to something that is greater than our previous experience by first embodying the atmosphere of our desire.
Every business, every place, every person, everything has a certain mental atmosphere of its own. This atmosphere decides what is to be drawn to it. For instance, you never saw a successful person who went around with an atmosphere of failure. Successful people think about success. They are filled with that subtle something which permeates eve…
Apr 27, 2016
Spiritual Growth & The Limits of Friendship
Listen to episode 54 of the Inspirational Living podcast: Spiritual Growth & The Limits of Friendship. Adapted from the book Friendship by Hugh Black.
*Spiritual Podcast Excerpt* : Human love can ask too much, and it asks too much when it would break down the individual will and conscience. We cannot renounce our rights as living souls without losing our souls. No person can pay the debt of life for us. No individual can take the burden of life from us. To no person can we hand over the reins unreservedly. It would be cowardice, and cowardice is sin.
The first axiom of the spiritual life is the sacredness of our individuality. We must respect each other's personality. Even when we have rights over other people, these rights are strictly limited, and carry with them a corresponding duty to respect their rights also. The one intolerable despotism in the world is the attempt to put a yoke on the souls of others, and there are some forms of intimacy which approach that despotism. To tran…
Apr 25, 2016
The Secret of Authentic Happiness | Joyful Life Project
Listen to episode 53 of the Inspirational Living podcast: The Secret of Authentic Happiness. Edited and adapted from The Wonders of Life by Ida Luella Rettinghouse Lyon.
*Inspirational Podcast Excerpt* : It is folly to think that the happiness of our lives has passed, and to linger regretfully in the flowery byways of the past. If we look forward with hopeful hearts, we shall find as we progress, undreamed of joys and marvelous manifestations of a power which ever leads the willing follower into paths where new delights await them. One should never grow too old, or too unfortunate, to have friends to love, and to keep in touch with the world in which we live.
While our consciousness is expanding into a wider comprehension of the hidden powers of the universe, we are not getting away from materialism. We are taking materialism with us into this realm of subtle power; for there is nothing more mysterious than the material part of the universe. Life offers us grand opportunities in givi…
Apr 20, 2016
Living a Joyful Life Now: Motivation for Feeling Good
Listen to episode 52 of the Inspirational Living podcast: Living a Joyful Life Now: Motivation for Feeling Good. Adapted from The Ideal Made Real by Christian D. Larson.
*Motivational Podcast Excerpt* : Every person desires to make the most of themselves, but to accomplish this all latent power must be awakened, and there is nothing that will bring forth our latent powers more thoroughly than the doing of what seems difficult. When you find yourself shrinking from certain tasks, you have discovered a weakness within yourself. Refuse to let that weakness remain in such a condition.
Go and do what you feared to do and let nothing hold you back. In this way, the weak faculty will be made strong, and your entire nature will pass through a valuable discipline and training. Nothing is really disagreeable unless we think so. That is, we may approach the disagreeable in such a way that it ceases to be disagreeable. And the secret to doing this is: count everything joy. You may enter darkness…
Apr 18, 2016
Educational Psychology: Love & Marriage (Tips & Advice)
Listen to episode 51 of the Inspirational Living podcast: The Psychology of Love & Marriage. Adapted from The Mental Highway by Thomas Parker Boyd.
*Educational Podcast Excerpt* : The truth is, we are never in love with a man or woman. We love a perfect ideal, and someone who more or less fills that ideal, steps into the picture and furnishes an objective upon which love may express itself. Such an objective may move into the picture at anytime, and he or she may move out at anytime, because they no longer fill the picture, while another who more perfectly fills the ideal takes the place.
This may seem to make love a fickle and undependable thing. However, its fickleness is not in the love, nor in the lover, but in the objective that has failed to fill the ideal, which has failed to grow and more perfectly express the perfect spiritual reality in objective form. The glamour of love is likely to be dimmed the moment that the humdrum of life renders the relationship commonplace.
A com…
Apr 13, 2016
The Power of the Eternal Now | Christian D. Larson
Listen to episode 50 of the Inspirational Living podcast: The Power of the Eternal Now (Living in the Moment). Adapted from How to Stay Young by Christian D. Larson.
*Spiritual Podcast Excerpt* : The forces of the mind will create and express every quality or condition that is held in consciousness. This is one of the most important of all metaphysical laws, because it is principally through this law that you determine what your personal life is to be.
A true conception of time is extremely important in placing the mind in the proper attitude towards the laws that govern your being; and this true conception is based upon the principle that time IS. Time neither comes nor goes. It is the movements of nature that come and go, not time. What we call time is but the now of eternity, and this now is eternally in the now; therefore there can be no passing of time.
It is only in the now that you can live. You can live neither in the past nor in the future. You may think of the past or the…
Apr 11, 2016
How to Sell Yourself | Success and Entrepreneurship
Listen to episode 49 of the Inspirational Living podcast: How to Sell Yourself (Success and Entrepreneurship). Adapted from The Mental Highway by Thomas Parker Boyd.
*Motivational Podcast Transcript* : We each have in ourselves the potential elements of genius. Our business is to find out how to set them free and get them into effective operation. Remember that a one-talent person working at their highest efficiency is worth a hundred undeveloped ten-talent people.
While we all may differ in the degree and variety of natural endowments, everyone has the potential elements of success. Success consists in realizing that you have it in you, that you are worthy to succeed, then carrying your qualities to market. For no matter how high the quality of your faculties and abilities may be, they do not spell success until you market them. The art of selling yourself hinges on a right idea about your goods and how to get that right idea across to the mind of the potential buyer or employer. Th…
Apr 6, 2016
The Arc of the Moral Universe - Morality & Justice
Today's podcast (Episode 48) is dedicated to Martin Luther King. Many people attribute Dr. King with establishing the concept of the arc of the moral universe. But it actually was derived from a sermon by 19th century Unitarian minister Theodore Parker, whose works MLK read and admired. This particular sermon dealing with justice and the moral universe can be found in the book 10 Sermons of Religion by Theodore Parker, from which today's podcast has been adapted.
*Spiritual Podcast Excerpt* : I find that justice is the object of my conscience, fitting that, as light the eye and truth the mind. There is a perfect agreement between the moral object and the moral subject. Finding it fits me thus, I know that justice will work for my welfare and that of all humankind. Look at the facts of the world. And you will see a slow but continual and progressive triumph of what is right. I do not pretend to understand the moral universe. The arc is a long one; my eye reaches but a little way. I can…
Apr 4, 2016
Sustainable Success | Living on the Edge of Joy
Listen to episode 47 of the Inspirational Living podcast: Sustainable Success (Living on the Edge of Joy). Edited and adapted from the book Joy Philosophy by Elizabeth Towne.
*Motivational Podcast Excerpt* : Perhaps you feel that you are too old; or that your burdens are too great; that you have no time or energy to pursue your Ideals. I say that it is never too late to drop your burdens and use your energy to some joyful purpose. All one has to do is to declare “I have no burdens. Life is a play-ground!“ and stick to it.
There are many serious people who say, “Life is real. Life is earnest.” But I say to you that “Life is really what you think it.” It is a great game, a tragedy, or a sentence of hard labor, just as you will. If you don’t like what it has been, use your ingenuity to make it different.
Above all things, drop the burdens. Refuse to make bricks without straw. If the world won’t let you go, just go anyhow.There is always a Red Sea to cut off pursuers and…
Mar 31, 2016
How to Develop a Powerful Concentration (Mindfulness)
Listen to episode 46 of the Inspirational Living podcast: How to Develop a Powerful Concentration. Adapted from Thought Force in Business & Every Day Life by William Walker Atkinson.
*Educational Podcast Excerpt* : Every person who has succeeded in life has developed the art of concentration. They may not realize it, but they have, just the same. And more, any person who will develop the art of concentration will be successful. The individual who can concentrate has a sure remedy for the "blues." How so? Why, just by shutting off the unpleasant thoughts and concentrating on a brighter subject.
Thousands of people have found this plan a specific remedy for the "blues," discouragement, worry, fear, and the rest. Try it, and you will find that life will appear entirely different to you. Try it, and you will begin to feel the thrill of life again, and will thank God that you are alive, instead of cursing the day when you were born. You will do your work better; you will feel better; you…
Mar 23, 2016
How to Overcome Self-Pity & Stop Feeling Sorry for Yourself
Listen to episode 44 of the Inspirational Living podcast: How to Overcome Self-Pity. Adapted from the book Health Through Will Power by Dr. James J. Walsh.
*Motivational Podcast Excerpt* : The old Greeks did not hesitate (in spite of their deep appreciation of the beauty of nature and enthusiasm for the joy of living) to emphasize the tragedy in life. They were inclined to think that the sense of contrast produced by tragedy heightened the actual enjoyment of life, and that indeed all pleasure was founded on contrast rather than positive enjoyment. One may not be ready to agree with the saying that the only thing that makes life worthwhile is contrast, but certainly suffering as a background enhances happiness as nothing else can.
Aristotle declared that tragedy purges life, that is, that only through the lens of death and misfortune can one see life free from the dross of the sordid and merely material to which it is attached. His meaning was that tragedy lifts us above the selfishn…
Mar 17, 2016
What Do You Live For? - Law of Attraction
Listen to episode 42 of the Inspirational Living podcast: What Do You Live For? Adapted from the book New Thought Common Sense and What Life Means to Me by Ella Wheeler Wilcox.
*Inspirational Podcast Excerpt* : Everything comes when we are fully ready. The law never fails. You may believe yourself worthy of better things than what has fallen to your lot, but there is some reason, some cause in yourself, if you have not what you desire.If you encounter people who are disagreeable, be so agreeable that you force them into a pleasant mood. Bring out the best in everybody by giving them the best that is in yourself.
The poet Madeline Bridges put this great truth into the simple words: "Give to the world the best you have, And the best shall come to you."Just so sure as you live these lines, so sure shall be your reward. But to do all this you must be ALIVE: Alive every hour of the day, and all of you (brain, soul and body) must be alive. Once you roll the stone away and come forth, alive…
Mar 14, 2016
How to Think & Grow Rich Without Money
Listen to episode 41 of the Inspirational Living podcast: How to Think & Grow Rich Without Money. Adapted from the work of Orison Swett Marden.
*Motivational Podcast Excerpt* : We assume importance and become a power in the world, just as soon as it is found that we stand for something; that we are not for sale; that we will not lease our ideals for salary, for any amount of money or for any influence or position; that we will not lend our name to anything which we cannot endorse.
The trouble with so many people today is that they do not stand for anything outside their vocation. They may be well educated, well up in their specialties, may have a lot of expert knowledge, but they cannot be depended upon. There is some flaw in them which takes the edge off their virtue. They may be fairly honest, but you cannot bank on them...
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Mar 10, 2016
The Duality & Rhythm of Life - The Kybalion
Listen to episode 40 of the Inspirational Living podcast: The Duality & Rhythm of Life. Adapted from the Kybalion, published in 1912 by the Yogi Publication Society.
*Spiritual Podcast Excerpt* : The Principle of Polarity, as taught by the ancient mystics, was that everything is dual. Everything has two poles. Everything has its pair of opposites---and that "opposites" are really only the two extremes of the same thing, with many varying degrees between them. Where does darkness leave off, and light begin? What is the difference between Large and Small? Between Hard and Soft? Between Black and White? Between Sharp and Dull? Between Noise and Quiet? Between High and Low? Between Positive and Negative?
The Principle of Polarity explains these paradoxes, and no other Principle can supersede it. The same Principle operates on the Mental Plane. Let us take a radical and extreme example—that of Love and Hate, two mental states apparently totally different. And yet there are degrees of Ha…
Mar 8, 2016
How to Change Your Life Around - Neville Goddard
Listen to episode 39 of the Inspirational Living podcast: How to Change Your Life Around. Adapted from a 1952 lecture by Neville Goddard.
*Podcast Excerpt* : As an individual, you move and live in time, but your true being is in eternity. Think of the vertical line of the cross as the line of being upon which there are unnumbered levels of awareness. Time cannot make you better or wiser. In fact, time cannot do a thing towards changing your level of being, for change is all on the vertical line where you move to higher or lower levels of your own being.
Because change is imminent, we speak of it as infinite imminence---as nearer than near and sooner than now. The person you would like to be is imminent: is nearer than near. The ideal you dream of being is sooner than now and is brought into being by a change in your reactions to life...
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Feb 22, 2016
The Power of Spiritual Meditation - The Way of Peace
Listen to episode 35 of the Inspirational Living podcast: The Power of Spiritual Meditation. Edited & adapted from The Way of Peace by James Allen.
*Podcast Excerpt* : Spiritual meditation is the pathway to Divinity. It is the mystic ladder which reaches from earth to heaven, from error to Truth, from pain to peace. Without its aid, you cannot grow into the divine state, and the fadeless glories and joys of Truth will remain hidden from you. Tell me that which you most frequently and intensely think about (that to which, in your silent hours, your soul most naturally turns), and I will tell you to what place of pain or peace you are traveling, and whether you are growing into the likeness of the divine or the mundane...
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Feb 17, 2016
Cheerfulness: The Benefits of Smiling & Laughing
Listen to episode 34 of the Inspirational Living podcast: Cheerfulness: The Benefits of Smiling and Laughing. Adapted from The Optimistic Life by Orison Swett Marden.
*Podcast Excerpt* : No matter what your work may be, learn to find happiness everywhere. The love of cheerfulness can be cultivated like any other faculty — and in practical life, it will be worth more to you than a college education with-out it. This is wealth that all can accumulate — the wealth of joy. No matter how hard your lot, how dark the day may seem, if you work a little good humor into it, it will lift your life above a humdrum existence.
If you manage to get in a good laugh during the day, your work will not seem nearly as hard. It will relieve the grind and dreariness. A dull, serious mood all day will not only make you very uninteresting to others, but it makes your own load heavier. A good laugh does away with cares, worries, doubts, and relieves the great strain of modern life....
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Feb 2, 2016
How to Be Calm, Cool & Collected | Retrain the Brain
Listen to episode 30 of the Inspirational Living podcast: How to Be Calm, Cool & Collected. Adapted from a Harvard lecture by Dr. George Lincoln Walton.
*Podcast Excerpt* : We live in an age where discretion is the better part of valor. The person who exercises this discretion is less at risk for harm, but does not see so much of life as the more forceful individual. It is true that the hypochondriac is prone to live longer, but what a life! The time has past when the young child can say, "And if I die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take.” Now the prayer is more like this: "Don't even mention death to me or I shall lie awake all night!"
Today’s parents are raising children in ways that bring into prominence the little worries; that cause the tempest in the teapot; that bring about the worship of the intangible, and the magnification of the unessential. If we had lived in another age, we might have dreamt of the eternal happiness of saving our neck, but in this one we f…
Jan 25, 2016
Kahlil Gibran on Love & Marriage (Soul Mates)
Listen to episode 28 of the Inspirational Living podcast: Kahlil Gibran on Love & Marriage (Soul Mates). Edited and adapted from Gibran’s book The Prophet.
*Podcast Excerpt* : If love leads you to marriage, remember this: You were born together, and together you shall be for evermore. You shall be together when the white wings of death scatter your days. You shall be together even in the silent memory of God. But let there be spaces in your togetherness. And let the winds of the heavens dance between you. Love one another, but make not a bond of love: Let it rather be a moving sea between the shores of your souls.
Fill each other’s cup, but drink not from one cup. Give one another of your bread, but eat not from the same loaf. Sing and dance together and be joyous, but let each one of you be alone---just as the strings of a lute are alone, though they quiver with the same music.....
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Jan 20, 2016
How to Build Better Life Habits | Getting Unstuck
Listen to episode 27 of the Inspirational Living podcast: How to Build Better Life Habits (Getting Unstuck). Adapted from book The Mind & Its Education by George Herbert Betts.
*Podcast Excerpt* : Building better habits will require something of heroism on our part. For to follow the well-beaten path of custom is easy and pleasant, while to break out of the rut of habit and start a new line of action is difficult and disturbing. Most people prefer to keep doing things as they always have done them, to continue reading and thinking and believing as they have long been in the habit of doing, not so much because they feel that their way is best, but because it is easier than to change.
Hence the great mass of us settle down on the plane of mediocrity, and become "old fogies." We learn to do things passably well, cease to think about improving our ways of doing them, and fall into a rut. Only the few go on. They make use of habits as the rest do, but they also continue to modify them at…
Jan 13, 2016
How to Succeed in Anything - Napoleon Hill
Listen to episode 25 of the Inspirational Living podcast: How to Succeed in Anything. Edited and adapted from Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill.
*Podcast Excerpt* : Persistence is an essential factor of success in life. And the basis of persistence is the POWER OF WILL. Will-power and desire, when properly combined, make an irresistible pair. People who achieve great success are sometimes known as ruthless. Often they are misunderstood. What they have is will-power, which they mix with persistence, to insure the attainment of their objectives.
Most people are ready to throw their aims and purposes overboard, and give up at the first sign of opposition or misfortune. Only a few carry on despite all opposition, until they attain their goal: the Steve Jobses, the Andrew Carnegies, the Mahatma Gandhis, the Thomas Edisons. While there may be no heroic connotation to the word "persistence," the quality is to the character of a person what carbon is to steel....
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Jan 11, 2016
The Power of Words - A Philosophy of Living
Listen to episode 24 of the Inspirational Living podcast: The Power of Words. Edited and adapted from The Mental Cure by Warren Felt Evans.
*Podcast Excerpt* : Words are the index of character. They enclose within them our thoughts, and the tone with which they are spoken indicates the state of our affections. The utterance of a single word can reveal the love, fear, or hate that lurks within it, and, as such, our life and character are laid open to public view. By the effect of our words, others can perceive the cause. The heart is the fountain; words are the stream. If the fountain is clear as crystal, the issuing spring will be the water of life....
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Jan 6, 2016
The Book of Tea | Zen & The Art of Tea Drinking
Listen to episode 22 of the Inspirational Living podcast: The Book of Tea | Zen & The Art of Tea Drinking. Edited and adapted from The Book of Tea by Okakura Kakuzō.
*Podcast Excerpt* : There is a subtle charm in the taste of tea which makes it irresistible and capable of idealization. Western humorists were not slow to mingle the fragrance of their thought with its aroma. It has not the arrogance of wine, the self-consciousness of coffee, nor the simpering innocence of cocoa.
Samuel Johnson draws his own portrait as "a hardened and shameless tea drinker, who for twenty years diluted his meals with only the infusion of the fascinating plant; who with tea amused the evening, with tea solaced the midnight, and with tea welcomed the morning.
Teaism is the art of concealing beauty that you may discover it, of suggesting what you dare not reveal. It is the noble secret of laughing at yourself, calmly yet thoroughly, and is thus humor itself—the smile of philosophy. All genuine humoris…
Jan 4, 2016
How to Sleep Better, Peacefully & Fast
Listen to episode 21 of the Inspirational Living podcast: How to Sleep Better, Peacefully & Fast. Edited and Adapted from the book The Victorious Attitude ( https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9825824-the-victorious-attitude ) by Orison Swett Marden.
*Self-Help Podcast Excerpt* : We never awake the same exact being as when we went to sleep. We are either better or worse. We changed while we slept. While our senses were wrapped in slumber, the subjective mind was busily at work. It was either building up or tearing down. If we go to bed holding a grudge against a neighbor, with a resolve to "get back" at somebody who has hurt us; if we have hatred or jealousy in our heart; if we are envious of another's success, and if we go to sleep nursing these feelings, we awake in a depressed, exhausted state, feeling bitter, pessimistic, irritable, and unhappy.
The destructive spirit was at work all night, running amuck among the delicate brain and nerve cells, furiously tearing down what benefi…
Jan 2, 2016
How to Transform Your Life & Thinking | Neville Goddard
Listen to episode 20 of the Inspirational Living podcast: How to Transform Your Life & Thinking (Neville Goddard). Edited and Adapted from a lecture by Neville Goddard.
*Podcast Excerpt* : The purpose of today’s talk is to bring about a psychological change in you, the individual. Humanity, understood psychologically, is an infinite series of levels of awareness. And you, individually, are what you are according to where you are in the series. Consciousness is the only reality. And where you are conscious of being psychologically determines the circumstances of your life. The ancients knew this great truth, but our modern teachers have yet to discover it. There is only one substance in the world. Our scientists call it energy, while scripture defines it as consciousness.....
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Dec 11, 2015
What the World Needs From You - Motivation for Life
Listen to episode 10 of the Inspirational Living podcast: What the World Needs From You. Adapted from the book The Art of Being Alive by Ella Wheeler Wilcox.
*Podcast Excerpt* : LIFE means action, from the cradle to the grave. There are limitless possibilities in this life to bring into realization whatever hopes or aspirations we desire. If we only but begin… There is no such thing as inaction during this life. We are continually going forward or backward. You are either stronger or weaker this year than you were last year. You are braver or more cowardly. You are more hopeful or more pessimistic. You are more capable mentally or less so. You have better or poorer command of your forces. You have more efficiency or not as much. You are nearer your goal or farther from it. You are a better human being or not as good.....
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Dec 7, 2015
The Majesty of Calmness | William George Jordan
Listen to episode 8 of the Inspirational Living podcast: How to Stay Calm & Motivated. Adapted from The Majesty of Calmness by William George Jordan.
*Transcript Excerpt* : Calmness is the rarest quality in human life. It is the signpost of a great nature, in harmony with itself and its ideals. It is the moral atmosphere of the life self-reliant and the self- controlled. Calmness is singleness of purpose, absolute confidence, and conscious power — ready to be focused in an instant to meet any crisis.
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Dec 1, 2015
How Thoughts Shape Your Destiny | James Allen
Listen to episode 6 of the Inspirational Living podcast: How Thoughts Shape Your Destiny. Edited & adapted from the book As a Man Thinketh by James Allen.
*Transcript Excerpt* : The world is your kaleidoscope. The varying color combinations are the exquisitely adjusted pictures of your ever-moving thoughts. You are literally what you think, your character being the complete sum of all your thoughts. As the plant springs from, and could not be without, the seed, so every action springs from the hidden seeds of thought and could not have appeared without them.
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Nov 26, 2015
You Can Heal Your Body, Life & Heart
Listen to episode 5 of the Inspirational Living podcast: The Thinking Body. Edited & adapted from the book How to Get What You Want by Dr. Orison Marden.
*Transcript Excerpt* : We are apt to think of the body as a collection of different organs and that these organs are in a way separate, of different material or construction. But we are simply one enormous mass of tiny cells closely related to one another. Because the bones, for example, are harder than the brain, we think there can be little affinity between them, but, as a matter of fact, what affects one cell anywhere in the body affects all. Each cell is an entity or little self, and we are made up of these billions of our little selves or cells.
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Nov 24, 2015
The Art of Being Alive - Seize the Day (Carpe Diem)
Listen to episode 4 of the Inspirational Living podcast: The Art of Being Alive. Edited & adapted from the book The Art of Being Alive by Ella Wheeler Wilcox.
*Transcript Excerpt* : Stop wondering why you were born into this world. Stop looking for faults and flaws. Rise up today with joy and say, “I am going to be alive!" In every thousand people who are living on this earth, not more than one is alive. To be really alive means more than to be a moving, breathing, eating, drinking, and talking human being. Those who are actually alive find the days too short to pursue all the wonderful explorations which life offers them. They find life itself a continual adventure, an unfolding panorama, with opportunities for pleasure and achievement at every turn....
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Nov 18, 2015
Daring Greatly: Finding the Courage to Lead
Listen to episode 3 of the Inspirational Living podcast: Daring Greatly: Finding the Courage to Lead. Edited & adapted from the book The Power of Truth by William George Jordan.
*Transcript Excerpt* : The reformers of the world are those men and women of mighty purpose. They are leaders with the courage of individual conviction who dare run counter to the criticism of the crowd. They are the souls who voluntarily bear crosses for what they accept as right, even without the guarantee of redemption. They are the heroes who gladly go down into the depths of silence, darkness and oblivion, only to emerge finally like divers, with pearls in their hands...
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Nov 16, 2015
Living the Immortal Life | Theodore Parker | Unitarian
Listen to episode 2 of the Inspirational Living Podcast: Living the Immortal Life, edited & adapted from Theodore Parker's Unitarian sermon on immortality.
*Transcript Excerpt* : It is the belief of many that we shall all live forever. This is not a doctrine of Christianity alone. It belongs to the human race. But how did we come by this belief? Our ancestors did not sit down and think it out; never waited till they could prove it by logic and metaphysics; did not delay their belief till a miraculous revelation came to confirm it. It came to them by intuition; by instinctive belief, the belief which comes unavoidably from our nature. In this same way came the belief in a higher power; the redeeming power of love; and the yearning for justice.
Some faculties of the body act spontaneously at first---so others of the spirit. Immortality is a fact of human nature; it is thus a part of the universe, just as the sun is a fact in the heavens and a part of the universe....
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Nov 11, 2015
How to Love & Live True to Yourself | Self-Reliance
Listen to episode 1 of the Inspirational Living podcast: How to Love & Live True to Yourself. Edited & adapted from Emerson's classic essay on self-reliance.
*Transcript Excerpt* : The power that resides in you is new in nature, and no one but you knows what you can do, nor will you know until you have tried. Trust thyself: every heart vibrates to that iron string. Accept the place that divine providence has found for you in the society of your contemporaries. Great men and women have always done so, devoting themselves childlike to the genius of their age, with all of their being. Like those who have come before us, we must accept with highest mind our transcendent destiny; and behave not like cowards fleeing before a revolution, but like fearless guides helping others advance through the Chaos and the Dark...
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