“Being deeply loved gives you strength, while loving deeply gives you courage.”
During challenging times, we may need to lean on loving family and friends for support. Their support gives us strength; and something as simple as a hug or a listening ear can go a long way. So, the idea that being deeply loved gives us strength makes complete sense. However, the idea that loving deeply gives us courage may not be as straightforward. At the heart of the second half of this quote by Chinese philosopher Lao Tzuloving is the fact that loving deeply makes us more selfless. With less focus on ourselves, we can have more care about the wellbeing of those we love. And care for something beyond…
Living Life Poetically: Rest for a Barren Heart
“Rest for a Barren Heart” isn’t the most uplifting poem; however, it is hopeful toward the end. It’s for all those times we go to bed feeling a bit under the weather after a bad day. While the body needs rest, so does the soul. Rest for a Barren Heart If I hug this pillow tightly, Would it give comfort to my heart?If I press it against my chest,Would it support a heart’s barren weight of sorrow?If on it a heavy mind can press its head for dreams to follow,Can an emptied soul press its heart to fill the hollow? Perhaps, I would fall asleepand wake up to a better tomorrow …
“You were given this life because you are strong enough to live it.”
If you’ve ever thought ‘why me?’ when something bad happens to you or when you realize your situation isn’t quite what you hope, there could be a simple answer to that question. The simple answer could just be because that’s the life you’ve been given. When we’re born, we have no choice over what life we would be given. We have no control over the cards we’ll be dealt. We may not feel like we can change, let alone handle, our life. However, this anonymous quote (possibly by Ain Eineziz) reminds us that whatever life we’re uniquely given is also one we’re strong enough to live. Otherwise, it wouldn’t be…
“The distance between your dreams and reality is called action.”
Whatever your current reality is, it can sometimes feel far away from your dreams. Adding to this is the fact that it’s hard not to see all the roadblocks you’ll face along the way. Therefore, the perceived distance between your dream and reality can feel both long and strenuous. This anonymous quote reminds us that the long and strenuous journey to our dreams is mostly perceived. Furthermore, this perception can change with action. When we begin to act on our dreams the distance between it and reality suddenly feels shorter. Yes, it gets shorter because action is the very thing that gets us closer to our dreams. But perhaps more…
“If you can’t stop thinking about it, don’t stop working for it.”
Sometimes the things that often occupy our thoughts are our unfulfilled goals and ambitions. Moreover, they have a way of nagging at us no matter how much time has passed or how many failures we’ve experienced in their pursuit. Fortunately, there’s a great way to silence these thoughts. Simply put, it’s by accomplishing whatever it is we hope to accomplish. Nothing more. Nothing less. This quote, by Michael Jordan, reminds us to think of those nagging thoughts as our spirit telling us to keep going.
“The best way to ensure success is to never lose energy because things aren’t going as fast as you want them to.”
Whether you’re trying to get healthier, advance your career, or hit a new milestone, it’s easy to get impatient. Things may not happen as quickly as you hope. And as you grow impatient, your motivation tends to wane. When you lack motivation, your goals take even longer to accomplish. And the longer they take, as a result, the more impatient you become. It’s a vicious cycle. This anonymous quote reminds us that a key factor to success is simply not losing your energy and enthusiasm. Having the same or more motivation when your goals take longer than expected is not easy. It goes against what you would naturally feel. So…
“Do not pray for an easy life, pray for the strength to endure a difficult one.”
Sadness, frustration, hardship, and loss are almost unavoidable in life. Therefore, praying for an easy life would be an unrealistic expectation. There’s no such thing as a life free of these conditions no matter your geographic location, socioeconomic status, age, or piety. The truth is, there are always going to be some negatives intermixed with the positives. This is why, as suggested in this Bruce Lee quote, we should pray for strength for when we do fall on hard times rather than pray that we never do at all. There’s no such thing as a life free of sadness, frustration, hardship, and loss. However, having the strength to surmount these…
“We can complain because rose bushes have thorns, or rejoice because thorns have roses.”
Most of us are familiar with the saying about looking at the glass half full or half empty. This anonymous quote is similar in its underlying message. The point is that we can take any event or circumstance and either see the positive or negative. We can complain about everything that’s wrong or try to see the silver lining. If we search hard enough, we will find a silver lining.
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“It is our attitude at the beginning of a difficult task which, more than anything else, will affect its successful outcome.”
“You can’t go back and change the beginning, but you can start where you are and change the ending.”
“Letting there be room for not knowing is the most important thing of all. When there’s a big disappointment, we don’t know if that’s the end of the story. It may just be the beginning of a great adventure.”
“Growth is painful. Change is painful. But nothing is as painful as staying stuck somewhere you don’t belong.”
What a shame it would be if a caterpillar decided to remain in its cocoon. Fortunately, nature runs its course and a metamorphosis occurs. The caterpillar eventually emerges as a butterfly–having no choice in the matter. We too are faced with the prospect of major change. But we typically do have a choice. However, that choice is often akin to remaining in a cocoon. As we read in this quote by Mandy Hale, growth and change can be painful. But without growth and change, we’re more likely to be stuck where we don’t belong–in our cocoon. Perhaps, never allowing ourselves to experience our own metamorphosis.
“The shoe that fits one person pinches another; there is no recipe for living that suits all cases.”
In the story of Cinderella, the glass slipper fits one person and one person only: Cinderella. However, realistically, there would be others with the same shoe size while there would be those whom the same shoe doesn’t fit. It’s a simple fact of life that we can’t all wear the same-sized shoes. This quote, from the book Modern Man in Search of a Soul by psychiatrist and psychoanalyst Carl Jung, reminds us that we can’t expect to go on life’s journey all wearing the same-sized shoes. That would be an unfair expectation for ourself. If they’re too small or too big, our journey would be more slow, laborious, painful, and…
