Life’s Little Secrets for Children

The Collection

By J. Donald Walters

For Happiness, Friendship, and Success in Life

Life’s Little Secrets for Children

The CollectionBy J. Donald Walters (Swami Kriyananda)

Contents: Life’s Little Secrets for Children

Little Secrets of Happiness for Children

Little Secrets of Success for Children

Little Secrets of Friendship for Children

Note to Parents, by Mary Kretzmann

Education for Life Philosophy, and Living Wisdom Schools

Copyright (January 25, 2003) Crystal Clarity Publishers

Life’s Little Secrets — For ChildrenBy J. Donald Walters (Swami Kriyananda)

One thought a day to help you grow into a better you…

Here’s one of life’s little secrets:

1. Laugh with others, not at them. Even when people are really funny — clowns, for instance — laugh at them, of course, but always as a friend.

2. Why is it bad to tell lies? Because truth is powerful, but untruth has no power. Lies have only the strength of the human breath, but truth has the power of the wind. By telling lies, a person loses touch with that mightiness which is truth.

3. Never harm anyone. Each time anyone purposely hurts another living being, he also hurts himself. It’s like kicking a wall: You hurt your own foot. If, however, you can keep from even wanting to see others hurt, you’ll find that even strangers treat you as their friend.

4. Words spoken thoughtlessly have ruined many friendships. When you speak, choose words that will draw friends to you, not push them away or upset them. For words are like notes played on a trombone. To produce music, the notes you play must be well tuned.

5. If you want a person to do something, get him to want it, also. Don’t bounce on about how much you want it. If you want him to eat with you, talk about how good the food is, or how much you enjoy his company; don’t keep insisting on how hungry you are.

6. Anger wastes energy. Put the energy you’ve awakened by getting angry into improving, instead, what you think is wrong.

7. Speak the truth always. Be gentle, however, in your truthfulness. For truth is like a knife. It can inflict painful wounds, or be used to carve images that will help others, and inspire them.

8. Be kind to others; then even strangers will be kind to you.

9. Face the truth fearlessly, and accept it bravely. For truth always wins in the end.

10. Be always ready to say Yes: to others, and to Life itself. The wider you can open the doors of your mind, the brighter, happier, and more intelligent you’ll become.

11. Don’t be proud. Even your ability to walk, to breathe, and to think comes from the universe. It is not your own.

12. Whenever you hear people say, about a good idea, “It can’t be done,” ask yourself, “Why not?” If it’s a good thing, let no one tell you it’s impossible. Many people said that man would never land on the moon, but we landed there, didn’t we? What made it possible was that a few bold people told themselves, “It can be done!”

13. Respect age, but respect experience more. For it isn’t age that makes a person wise. Age simply means a person hasn’t died yet. Experience, and the openness to learn from that experience, are what give a person real understanding.

14. True courage is not blind stupidity. Stupidity is what it takes, for example, to jump off a diving board without first looking to see that there’s water in the pool. True courage means facing reality, and not wishing that inconvenient facts would somehow just disappear.

15. Don’t do a thing merely because your friends do it. Do it because you believe in it. Don’t be a dog, barking only because the other dogs in the neighborhood have started barking.

16. Behave in such a way that you feel right about yourself. Don’t leave it to others to feel right about you. People may smile at you approvingly, but often, then, they’ll walk away, and leave those smiles rusting like shovels in the rain.

17. Never fall back on the excuse, “But everybody’s doing it!” “Everybody” has no name. Seek the approval of true friends — those who really care about you, and who want your lasting happiness.

18. If you want others to look up to you, make sure, first, that they aren’t lying on their backs on the ground! Seek appreciation from those whose opinions you respect.

19. Cleverness doesn’t win in the end. Truth wins. Victories that are won by cleverness are like mist on a river, which disappears in the morning sunlight.

20. Life is more enjoyable when we like others than when we look down on them. The vulture flies high, but spends its time searching the ground for dead animals. Be like the hummingbird, which concentrates on brightly colored flowers and sweet fragrances.

21. Practice being happy; then everyone will seek your company.

22. The first step to victory is the thought, “I can succeed!” Cling to that belief as the water-skier clings to the rope that pulls him. There are no limits to the strength and intelligence you can develop, as a child of God.

23. Life is a bumpy parade of Ups and Downs, of successes and disappointments. Why bounce along on square wheels? Be like an eagle, soaring high above life’s hills and valleys. In your heart, be free!

24. Be cheerful always. No one will ever do your smiling for you.

25. Be energetic! Never tell yourself, “I am tired!” The more you accept that thought, the more exhausted you’ll become. But if you tell yourself, “I can do even more!” you’ll find that there are no limits to what you can accomplish.

26. When things happen to you, whether good or bad, stop for a moment; think what they mean. For there’s a purpose to life’s events, even if it’s only to teach you how to laugh more easily, or not to cry too hard.

27. When people ask you what you want to be when you grow up, tell them, “I want to be useful! I want to be happy and to make others happy. I want people to know that I’m their friend.”

28. Whatever you get back from life, whether laughter or tears, depends first of all on you: on how you look at things, and on how well you treat others. A river runs dry only if its water stops flowing at the source.

29. Life is like a mirror. When you feel gloomy, everything will look gloomy to you. When you feel happy, everything will look gay. People, too, are like mirrors to what you feel. If you want them to laugh with you, you be the one to laugh first. For if you frown, the chances are they’ll only frown right back.

30. Enjoy your victories, but then leave them behind you and walk on. If you enjoy them too long, you’ll only end up being their prisoner. Beyond every mountain climbed there’s another, higher one still waiting to be conquered.

31. Be good, but don’t be too good! Be serious, but not too serious! Have fun. Play. Enjoy life! The secret of living well is to live always with a happy heart.

I Came from Joy! Music to Make Your Heart Sing!Swami Kriyananda (J. Donald Walters)

Click here for free samples of the music! The songs on this delightful recording will encourage happiness and self-worth in your children throughout the pre-school and primary years. Interior booklet includes the complete lyrics for all of the songs on this recording, as well as some helpful suggestions on how to use this music effectively.

Little Secrets of Happiness — For ChildrenBy J. Donald Walters (Swami Kriyananda)

Here is one of life’s secrets for being happy:

1. Your happiness grows when you help other people. But the less you try to help them, the more it shrivels and dries up. For happiness is like a plant: It must be watered daily with giving thoughts and actions.

2. The secret of happiness is Smiling at others; comforting them when they’re sad. For just as a candle shines more brightly in a room if the walls are white, so our happiness shines more brightly when reflected back to us in the smiles of others.

3. The secret of happiness is keeping your heart open to others, and to life’s experiences. For the heart is like the door of a building. The sunlight can enter only when the door is open wide.

4. Happiness comes from putting out energy; from doing things yourself, and not from just sitting there, watching TV.

5. Happiness comes from accepting others as they are, instead of wishing they were somehow otherwise. How boring life would be if everyone were alike! Would a garden be any fun, if all its flowers were purple?

6. Happiness means making others happy. A flowery meadow needs surroundings of trees, not of ugly buildings. Surround your life’s meadow with happiness.

7. The secret of happiness is understanding that friendship is more precious than things; more precious than getting your own way; more precious than being right in matters where principles are not at stake.

8. Happiness means accepting whatever comes, and telling yourself always, “I am free, inside!”

9. Happiness comes to those who give love freely, and who don’t demand that others love them first. Be generous like the sun’s rays, which shine without asking first whether people deserve their warmth.

10. The secret of happiness is not wishing harm to anyone. Be kind, if you want to receive kindness back from life.

11. The secret of happiness is simply this:

BE happy! Don’t wait for others or for anything to make you happy. Happiness is like an underground stream: To find it, one must dig for it. Look for it deep inside yourself.

12. The secret of happiness is learning how to pass through life’s storms with a peaceful heart, its aura enclosing you in a cloak of light.

13. Happiness is NOW! It isn’t tomorrow. It isn’t yesterday. Happiness is like a morning glory: Yesterday’s won’t bloom again; tomorrow’s hasn’t opened yet. Only today’s flower can be enjoyed today. Be happy this very moment, and you’ll learn how to be happy always.

14. Happiness comes from being contented with less. Imaginary needs are like openings in a dam: They empty the mind’s lake of its waters of happiness.

15. Happiness is seeing God’s blessings in everything — even in pain. For painful experiences can make one stronger. There would be no peaches, if it weren’t also for the rain.

16. One important secret of happiness is standing by your parents, your brothers and sisters, your friends and relatives. As you are true to them, so be true to everyone. See your faithfulness to them as a balloon of light, expanding to include all people, all creatures as your own.

17. The secret of happiness is not to be stuck up. People will only turn away from you if you act important. But if you give them importance, you’ll have friends everywhere you go. Do you like feeling big? Then remind yourself, it’s the biggest skunk that gives off the biggest smell.

18. The secret of happiness is to see this world as holy, not as ordinary. Lo! The sky is a temple dome, and Life, the divine gift, is worshiped at altars everywhere. The flowers are Nature’s offerings of beauty. The birds, like choirs, sing thankful hymns. The more wonders you behold around you, the more wonderful will your own life become.

19. The secret of happiness is laughing with others, as their friend, and not at them, as their judge.

20. The secret of happiness is kindness; seeing others as members of your own greater family. For every creature is your own. We are all children of one Father-Mother, God.

21. The secret of happiness is doing willingly and joyfully whatever needs to be done. A flower reaches its peak of perfection when it is fully opened.

22. The secret of happiness is learning from others, rather than trying to teach them. The more you show off how much you know, the more everyone will try to find flaws in your knowledge. Why are geese called “silly”? Because they honk so much!

23. The secret of happiness is not bragging, nor wanting to be thought important. Bragging is like a cawing crow: The louder it caws, the more unpleasant the noise it makes!

24. The secret of happiness is love. For love is like a magical drink. The more freely you pour it out for others, the fuller and more crystal clear your own cup of happiness becomes.

25. The secret of happiness is letting your smiles rise from your heart, and flow out through your eyes. People whose smiles begin only at their lips and end at their proud, uptilted noses never know the meaning of true happiness.

26. The secret of happiness is doing things for others. Water that sits motionless grows stagnant. But water that flows freely remains always fresh and clear.

27. The secret of happiness is strengthening people’s belief in themselves. In a healthy forest, every tree stands firm.

28. The secret of happiness is not avoiding difficulties. It is by climbing mountains, not by sliding down them, that a person’s legs grow strong.

29. Happiness comes from seeing others’ needs as your needs, too. It comes from seeing others’ happiness as your own. A tiny cup can hold only a few drops of milk. Even so, a selfish heart can hold only a few drops of happiness. Enlarge your cup of feeling for others, and it will contain as much happiness as you can ever drink.

30. The secret of happiness is a heart reaching out in friendship to others. What would a tree be that grew no branches? Just a stick!

31. The secret of happiness is concentrating on the goodness in people. For life is like a painting. To see its beauty, hold it up to the light. Even the best painting can’t show its beauty if it remains hidden in a basement.

How to Be Happy All the Time, By Paramhansa Yogananda

Topics covered include: looking for happiness in the right places; choosing to be happy; tools and techniques for achieving happiness; sharing happiness with others; balancing success and happiness, and

many more.

Little Secrets of Success — For ChildrenBy J. Donald Walters (Swami Kriyananda)

Here is one of life’s secrets for being a success:

1. Enjoy the things you have to do! Whining about them will only make you tired, and will keep you from doing anything well. But success, like a dog, will follow you everywhere if you treat it as a friend.

2. Do things wholeheartedly — not only because others say you should do them, but because you believe in them. A half-hearted sprinkler waters only half the lawn.

3. Accept that things simply are what they are. Mere wishing won’t alter them. Wishing won’t keep the wind from blowing, nor will it turn snow into cotton candy. Work with what is, if you want to change things for the better.

4. Practice being happy inside. Don’t let others decide for you what will make you happy. You be the boss in your own factory of happiness.

5. Be free in your mind — like a white cloud high in the sky! Do your best always, but let the results take care of themselves. A cloud doesn’t worry if the winds blow north, south, east, or west. Why waste time worrying over what you can’t control?

6. When you have a decision to make, don’t ask yourself only, “What do I want?” Ask, “What’s right? What is best for everyone?” People will work with you, and will help you to succeed, if you think of what’s best for others, too.

7. When you have a decision to make, your first question shouldn’t be, “What can I get out of this?” It should be, “What will be best for everyone?” A house stands firm only when all its walls are strong.

8. Don’t blame others when things go wrong. And don’t blame yourself. A person swims well only if he isn’t afraid of sinking.

9. To succeed at anything, first form a clear idea of what you want to do. Then hold firmly to that idea, as you’d hold onto a kite string in a strong wind.

10. Don’t be discouraged if a project proves more difficult than you expected. That’s true for most things in life, especially if they are worthwhile. If success came to us as easily as blowing bubbles, it would probably be just another bubble: pretty, but then — POP! it would be gone.

11. Difficulties make us stronger, and lead us on to greater victories. Mountains aren’t easy to climb, but the view from the top is usually the best.

12. Develop your will power. Set yourself tasks that are difficult to do, then keep at them till you’ve accomplished them. In time, you’ll find that your will power has become firm and shining — like a wand of steel.

13. Concentrate with energy on the things you do. The colored windows in a church are bright when the sun shines through them. Even so, the things you do will be bright and beautiful when you give them your best energy.

14. When you set out to do something, don’t only ask yourself, “How have others done it?” Ask, “How can I do it in the right way, in the best possible way?” Columbus would never have reached America, nor would Bell have invented the telephone, if they hadn’t both felt there was a new truth there, waiting to be discovered.

15. Do everything with your whole mind, and with your whole heart. If you focus your rays of energy, the way a magnifying glass focuses the rays of the sun, you’ll burn away every problem, every obstacle before you.

16. See this day as a fresh beginning. Why go on thinking about what happened, or about what you did, yesterday? Life is a river, flowing constantly onward. No drop of it will ever pass the same bridge twice. NOW is your chance to do things in new ways, better than ever before!

17. Expand your thoughts and your dreams. Why fence yourself in a corral, when outside there’s a broad prairie, stretching out in all directions to the sky?

18. Don’t let your thoughts about things wear deep ruts in the paths of your mind. Don’t be a “stick-in-the-mud”! Look at things every day in fresh ways. Life is a great adventure. Look around you: There are trails leading off in all directions to new discoveries!

19. What matters most is how well you feel about the things you do. Dull colors in a painting show that the artist who painted it was dull. Bright colors tell us that the artist’s life was bright and full of energy. Put happiness into everything you do, and you’ll make many other people happy too.

20. Life is like swinging, which can be fun, but not if you get sick swinging backwards. You can learn to enjoy swinging if you tell yourself on every backward swing, “It’s great! It’s wonderful!” In life, too, if you have to do a thing, tell yourself you really enjoy doing it!

21. Be open to the truth, no matter who is speaking it. If you smell smoke, and a parrot squawks, “The house is on fire!” is that the moment to reassure others, “Oh, but the parrot doesn’t understand what it’s saying”?

22. Don’t confuse opinions with the truth. Truth is like an almond. Opinions are only the shell. Break that shell, and get inside it, if you want to know the truth about anything.

23. Before doing anything important, check first to see how you feel about it, deep inside. Does it feel right to you? Does it feel true? Does it seem as if it will help others?

24. Don’t make important decisions when your feelings are excited. If you do, you’ll only make mistakes. Become calm first, inside. The mind is like a lake: Ripples bounce up and down on it when you’re excited. Only when the lake is calm can its surface reflect clearly the full moon above.

25. If you face a problem, remember, there must be a solution to it. For things come in pairs. Every Down is followed by an Up. Every night ends in a day. Concentrate on solutions. Don’t shut yourself up in a room with your problems. To find the door, look for it. Why concentrate on the wall?

26. Be happy with the blessings life has given you, and don’t grumble about what you don’t have. Buildings get built with stones that are available for use, not with stones that are piled up in someone else’s yard.

27. Don’t be an “excuse-machine” — like a snow-maker that can’t be turned off. You’ll only call attention to your mistakes. Just do your best; then smile, and move on. Only God is perfect.

28. The good that you do in this world helps you more than it does anyone else. It makes you stronger. It gives you greater energy and understanding. If you paint a good painting, others will enjoy looking at it, but you, in painting it, will have learned how to paint.

29. Act from your inner center. Seek guidance for your thoughts and actions from within. For understanding is something one receives. It can’t be created. The earth grows warmer when it tilts to receive the sun.

30. Whatever you want works best for you, and for others, when it is also right and good. God knows better than you or than anyone else what will give you true happiness. Does a plant understand that the wind will make it strong? or that dull, rainy days will enable it to grow lovely flowers?

31. Never be stuck up. For pride is a deadly germ: It slowly destroys wisdom, and keeps a person from ever doing anything really well.

Do It NOW ! Swami Kriyananda (J. Donald Walters) A simple "how to" on every aspect of self-improvement, contains 366 practical ways to improve your life—a thought for each day of the year.

Little Secrets of Friendship — For ChildrenBy J. Donald Walters (Swami Kriyananda)

The secret of friendship is this:

1. Choose friends who are sincere with you, not those who only make you feel important. If your jacket billows in the wind, you may look bigger in it, but it won’t keep you warm.

2. Understand that you must be a friend to others, first. For friendship, like a silver cup, grows dull if you leave it uncared for, shines if you polish it, and shines brightest of all if you focus light on it.

3. Give your friends freedom to be themselves. Choose friends, too, who will give you that same freedom. Isn’t life more interesting for its differences? The canary can’t fly as fast as the hummingbird, but it sings beautifully. The hummingbird, though it flies fast, can’t sing at all.

4. Expand your happiness by sharing it with others. The larger a rainbow, the more brightly it shines.

5. Listen more, and talk less. Let your friends tell you how they feel about things. Who likes a dog that does nothing but bark?

6. Don’t only talk friendship: Be a friend. Show your friendship by the things you do for others. Don’t be a talking parrot, which can be taught to say, “I like you,” but will never understand what those words mean.

7. Like people. Don’t measure their words to see how well they like you. A fire in the fireplace is there to provide warmth, not to be warmed. If you warm others by your friendship, they will always crowd around you.

8. When you appreciate what your friends say or do, show them your appreciation. Don’t take it for granted that they recognize it. Don’t we all feel more friendly toward a dog when it wags its tail?

9. Accept your friends as they are, and they’ll accept you as you are. If you think friendship should be perfect, look at yourself sometime in the mirror. Are you perfect? By accepting what is, we can all grow together toward what ought to be.

10. Don’t give your bad moods to others. That’s like giving them a wormy apple to eat.

11. Make your friends’ needs as important as your own. Nobody likes a person who always shoves his way to the front of a line.

12. Encourage enthusiasm in your friends. To discourage them habitually is like killing them one little pinprick at a time. But to encourage them in their good ideas is like giving them doses of healing energy.

13. Let others have their say, even if you disagree with them. Once you’ve heard them out, then tell them, kindly but truthfully, what you think.

14. Don’t mix with people for what you hope to get out of them. Mix with them for themselves. Like them for themselves. Nobody wants to hang around with pickpockets.

15. Express your feelings through your eyes. Don’t be so wrapped up in yourself that people have to shake you, like a Christmas present, to guess what’s inside.

16. Express your friendship through the tone of your voice. A warm voice says, “I like you,” better than words ever can.

17. Don’t only play with your friends. Be serious with them, too. Discuss with them what you think about things, and about life. Talk about what you hope to do with your lives. Don’t let your play become like the wind-scattered leaves, torn away from the tree that kept them green.

18. When you’re with friends, be with them wholeheartedly. Don’t let your eyes go roaming about while you think of other things. A sputtering candle gives only feeble light. Even so, a person who pays only careless attention to his friends will create only feeble friendships.

19. Don’t let disagreements affect your friendship for others. Be true to them, no matter what. If they speak unkindly to you, be like a flowering cherry tree: Each time they strike you, shower them with blossoms of your kindness.

20. Concentrate on the things you like about your friends, and overlook what you don’t like. The notes one plays on a piano are the notes that get sounded.

21. Try not to criticize others. Instead, make helpful suggestions. The way to be happy yourself is to make others happy. And the surest way to be unhappy yourself is to make others unhappy. The color you paint a fence is the color you get on your clothes.

22. Don’t be a part-time friend. Even if a friend turns away from you, support him silently. Be like a star, shining steadily no matter how dark the night.

23. Be faithful to what is true and good in your friends, but don’t encourage them in their weaknesses. Be like the sunlight: Offer life and healing to all.

24. See God’s love behind the blessing of friendship.

25. Be true to your word, and to the promises you make. Be like a strong tree to which people cling when a river is in flood.

26. Look for things you can learn from your friends. Think of your times together as times to grow in understanding. The wolf cub plays at hunting so that, later on, the wolf may be a good hunter.

27. Live by truth as you best understand it. Your friends will respect you if you stand straight, like a fir tree, while others bend like meadow grass before every breeze.

28. Give your friends one of life’s most precious gifts: respect. When laughing together, laugh at them only if you can laugh just as happily when they laugh at you. Wavelets on a lake play together in the breeze. Be a wise wavelet, never forgetting that you and your wavelet friends are all part of the same body of water.

29. See God as your truest friend of all.

30. In your loyalty to others, be like the oak tree, which, though buffeted by winds, never ceases to offer people shade.

31. Don’t try to be like anyone else: Be yourself. There isn’t any “best” way to be. An elephant isn’t “better” than a cat. If you’re an elephant, be a good elephant. If you’re a cat, be the best cat you know how to be.

I Came from Joy! Spiritual Affirmations and Activities for Children BOOK by Lorna Ann Knox: Guidance on how to teach spiritual values to children

I Came From Joy! is a beautifully conceived, non-sectarian tool for developing a child's inner, spiritual life–ideal for parents, teachers, youth group leaders, and religious educators. Written for children age 5-11, but adaptable for all ages, I Came From Joy! offers fun and

uplifting exercises that teach children values such as kindness, love, concentration, happiness, discrimination, sharing, patience, security, and how to be a success.

A complete curriculum for use at home, youth groups, schools, and Sunday schools

"At last, a workbook designed to awaken each child's unique sense of the divine as well as strengthen their relationship with God. Lorna Knox is a natural-born teacher who through her book I Came from Joy! brings the love and light of God to our children through activities and spiritual affirmations." —Connie Bowen, author of I Believe in Me

Note to Parents on using Life’s Little Secrets (from Mary Kretzmann)

These instructive seed thoughts will be helpful to your children in many ways. My husband and I have lived at Ananda Village, founded by Swami Kriyananda, for over 30 years. We raised our three children here, and used little daily routines to keep the children mindful of God, and higher truths. A little thing, done consistently, is powerful, and lets your children know you value these higher principles in life.

My friend Sharon’s grown daughter and two grandchildren moved back home after her marriage dissolved. Creating a solid sense of home for her grandchildren during this challenging time was a high priority for Sharon. They kept to meaningful routines, such as regular meal times, bedtime stories and prayers, etc. Sharon also read one of these Little Secrets at dinnertime, right after blessing the food. Such a simple thing, but the kids came to expect it, and if she ever forgot, the kids would say, “Grandma, aren’t you going to read from the little book?”

There are four Little Secrets books here: a thought a day for four months! Print them out to use at bedtime or mealtime. Also, click through on the many links to find resources to help your family in many ways. I especially recommend:

Prayer-Demands for Children, By Paramhansa Yogananda.

One or more of these prayer-demands for children can be read each night at prayer time before bed. Your child can either repeat the prayer, or simply listen as you read one. Often a child is happy to listen peacefully while the parent reads. That is perfectly fine, and over time, these divine concepts will be part of your child’s mental/emotional and spiritual framework.

To learn more, you can read the chapter on “Prayer and Devotion with Children” in my book:

Finding God… in Your Family , By Mary Kretzmann

God bless you, and your family!

Mary Kretzmann, Director of Ananda Healing Prayer Ministry

PS – You might also enjoy: Wonderful Things Kids Say, by Mary Kretzmann

I’d love to hear your stories, too…you can add them to the comment section here: Wonderful Things Kids Say at my website: http://findinggodinyourfamily.wordpress.com/

Education for Life PhilosophyEducation for Life is a philosophy of holistic education that emphasizes experiential learning, spiritual development, and practical skills for living such as concentration, self-discipline, and compassion. The fundamentals of the philosophy are described in the book Education for Life, by J. Donald Walters.

The goal of education is the same as the goal of life: to help children become, on every level—heart, mind, body, and spirit, more balanced, mature, effective, harmonious, and happy. Underlying all of our academic efforts is the understanding that happy children make the best learners.

Parents in search of the right school for their child are usually looking for academic excellence. At the same time they want their child to enjoy the learning experience. Too often one of these goals is achieved at the expense of the other. However, in Education

for Life, learning and joy come together.

Education for Life emphasizes learning that will last a lifetime. Children learn to work with emotions and moods, to nurture an inner life, to love the world of ideas, to ask questions, and to be original thinkers.

While eternal spiritual principles lie at the core of our approach to education, we do not provide "religious instruction" in the traditional, parochial sense. The focus here is on developing qualities that are universally valued in all religions—such as inner peace, love, wisdom, and joy. Children of many faiths attend Living Wisdom Schools, and find that their understanding of their own faith is strengthened by their experiences there.

The roots of the Education for Life system lie in the philosophy of Paramhansa Yogananda, author of Autobiography of a Yogi.  Yogananda emphasized the unity of all religions and their common purpose in helping people experience joy, love and peace.

Discover also Living Wisdom High School. The uniqueness of our high school is best described through the three themes of adventure, service and self-discovery. Throughout the year, students are challenged to broaden their horizons through involvement in a wide variety of expansive, outside-the-classroom experiences.