Inspirational Living: Life Lessons for Success & Happiness

Listen to episode 478 of the Inspirational Living podcast: How to Strengthen Your Will-Power | Motivation. Edited and adapted from Stepping-Stones to Success by Horace D. Hitchcock.

Motivational Podcast Excerpt: Welcome to the Inspirational Living podcast. A special thanks to our newest patrons Krishno Sarkar and Zakhar. If you would like to become a patron and gain exclusive access to over 175 additional podcasts from our archive, as well as my new series of articles on how to run joyfully while completing the Couch to 5K program, visit LivingHour.org/patron. Thank you. 

Today’s reading was edited and adapted from Stepping-Stones to Success by Horace D. Hitchcock, published in 1914.

When it comes to human accomplishment, the power of will is the greatest power in the world. In fact, no person can determine the limits of any individual mind; neither can they foretell the limits of human endeavor. The accomplishments of today would appear as positive impossibilities to those who lived ages ago. A safe maxim for the future thus might be: "There is nothing that is impossible."

The power of will is a force distinctly human, and involves that which cannot be fully understood or explained. Like electricity, we know its cause and effects, but we do not know exactly what it is. Thought power deals with the brain in activity, and it is a conscious power; in other words, "Will power."

No normal person lives who does not have some will power. The common phrase, "I have no will power” is a contradiction and an impossibility. “Nothing is impossible to the person who can will. That is the only law of success," said Mirabeau, the French revolutionary.

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Listen to episode 477 of the Inspirational Living podcast: The Meaning of Money & How to Use It. Edited and adapted from Youth and Opportunity by Thomas Tapper.

Inspirational Podcast Excerpt: Welcome to the Inspirational Living podcast. I’d like to start today by expressing my gratitude to all of you who listen to this podcast. We just passed the 10 million download mark, which is millions more than I ever thought we’d get when I started this podcast. So, thanks again. It is a real privilege to be part of your life each week.

Today’s reading was edited and adapted from Youth and Opportunity by Thomas Tapper, published in 1912.

When discussing the Factors of Success, comparatively few people would fail to insist that the one thing above all others in desirability and importance, is money. We give precedence to money because we believe in its power, and yet, at the same time, it is the most impotent of our many servants.

Rightly regarded, money is a wholesome possession. The amount of good it can be made to do is so astounding that it is no wonder we regard it as the greatest thing in the world. Yet it is not the greatest thing in the world. It is merely one essentially important thing, and about its importance everyone should rightly inform themselves.

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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 by Zen Labs, which thousands of other people have used successfully to take up running, and now am on week 7 of the program, looking forward to graduating soon to their free 10K training app.

The biggest challenge in getting this far is that I’ve had to radically change my old mindset of hating running. And (I’m happy to say) I’ve succeeded in that. Now, I actually do enjoy running. I genuinely look forward to it. I’ve even begun to get a “runner’s high” that lasts throughout the day. Indeed I’m starting to feel around 20 years younger — and all without the pain, struggle, and difficulties that cause so many beginning runners to quit.

If you would like to join me on this journey, and learn how you can turn running into a joyful habit rather than a grind, visit LivingHour.org/patron. For as little as $3 a month, you can gain access to my advice on running with a joyful, positive mindset. You can also share with me your own experience with the Couch to 5K app, get my personal feedback and support, and other benefits exclusively offered to our podcast patrons. Once again, that’s LivingHour.org/patron. Thank you.

Now, on to today’s reading, which is a collection of inspirational quotes on the subject of running. For attribution, check out the full transcript which I have included with this podcast.

“Running! If there’s any activity happier, more exhilarating, more nourishing to the imagination, I can’t think of what it might be. In running the mind flees with the body, the mysterious efflorescence of language seems to pulse in the brain, in rhythm with [your] feet and the swinging of [your] arms.” — Joyce Carol Oates

“For me, running is both exercise and a metaphor. Running day after day, piling up the races, bit by bit I raise the bar, and by clearing each level I elevate myself.” — Haruki Murakami

“Never limit where running can take you. I mean that geographically, spiritually, and, of course, physically.” — Bart Yasso

“Our running shoes have magic in them. The power to transform a bad day into a good day; frustration into speed; self-doubt into confidence; chocolate cake into muscle.” — Mina Samuels

“I don’t run to add days to my life, I run to add life to my days.” — Ronald Rook

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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. 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 general confidence and respect of one’s fellow citizens.

Character is human nature in its best form. It is moral order embodied in the individual. People of character are not only the conscience of society, but in every well-governed state, they are its best motive power — for it is moral qualities in the main which rule the world. Even in war, Napoleon said, the moral is to the physical as ten to one.

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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.

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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. 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 tongues, hands, and feet, but our ability, perseverance, happiness, and pleasures of life.

These tyrants are Fear, Worry, Suspicion, Hatred & Co. When a Roman tyrant threatened to put a Greek slave in jail, the slave laughed at him and said: "You can put my body in jail, but my spirit will be forever free." However, the tyrants we submit to actually put the spirit in prison; and thus we become helpless.

To succeed in life, we must work freely with our resources. Resources are positive things. They help us and increase us. They make it plain to us just where opportunity is to be found. And yet the tyrants that put the spirit in jail are not positive things. They are the worst possible form of impediment, and impediments never helped a person in all the history of the world.

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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. 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 we must not wait too long; nor must we expect to undo, tomorrow, the act we have performed today.

The familiar expression, "many people, many minds," like all proverbs, is rich in meaning. We all fashion our own mansion, and we must dwell in it. If we turn to the records of literature, and, at the same time, observe those about us, we will learn a few principles about success that should ultimately make the mansion we are building a delightful and beautiful dwelling place.

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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. 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 if you think a little you will see that it is true. We may not get the exact thing we most desire. The particular object on which we have set our hearts may be out of our reach, but we do get along the line of our desire.

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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 yet it is curiously conservative. We speak of its blithe carelessness, and yet it is sometimes marked by moods of brooding sadness.

Youth is like an April day flecked with alternate sun and shower. And whatever youth does, it does with zest: it believes more valiantly, doubts more tragically, hopes more buoyantly, fears more poignantly than ever again. All this because it is a time of dawning self-expression. It is for the first time fully conscious of being alive...

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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. 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 some supposed slight or insult. It makes us slow to suspect others of evil motives or evil designs. It causes us to rejoice in the triumph of truth. It makes us cover up the faults of others, as we desire others to overlook ours.

Love gives us confiding hearts. It makes us hopeful and trustful. It helps us to endure hardships and privations. These are all elements of happiness.

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