“Everything that has a beginning has an ending. Make your peace with that and all will be well.”
This quote, by Jack Kornfield, reminds us to make peace with the fact that everything that has a beginning has an ending. Remembering this helps us accept when good things come to an end. Meanwhile, it helps us cope when bad things, or unfortunate events, present themselves. This simple fact of life is key to having a steady sense of peace and happiness.
“Anything that makes you weak–physically, intellectually and spiritually–reject it as poison.”
A poison is anything that can cause illness or death to a living thing. This quote, by Swami Vivekananda, helps us recognize that toxic people, environments, and situations are poisonous. They make us weak physically, intellectually, and spiritually. We would undoubtably reject poison in its tangible form. However, we don’t always reject it in the other ways it can appear in our lives. So, let us remember to reject the things that cause similar harm–The things that ill or deaden our body, mind, and soul.
“If you spend your whole life waiting for the storm, you’ll never enjoy the sunshine.”
This quote, by Morris West, is about always anticipating the worst. But always having a mindset that something’s about to go wrong is like always “waiting for the storm.” In the meantime, we don’t enjoy the sunshine now. So when there is no storm and things are good, let’s not waste the sunshine worrying that something bad is about to happen. In doing so, the things that should make us happy now are either ignored or overshadowed with worry. Let’s do our best to enjoy the sunshine when it comes. And when there is a storm, let’s learn to “dance in the rain.”
“Be happy for this moment. This moment is your life.”
So you’ve resolved to be “happier,” but it seems like a daunting task. This quote, by Omar Khayyam, reminds us that our life is composed of moments in time. We move from one moment to another; and together, those moments make up our life. Therefore, if we can concentrate on being happier for each moment, we’ll find that being happier, in general, is achievable. We’ll find that the more we practice this with each moment, the easier it gets. Moreover, the more moments of happiness we can find, the happier our life can become overall. Consider the following questions: Are you living in the moment? How can you make the…
“The secret of happiness, is not found in seeking more, but in developing the capacity to enjoy less.”
Gratitude and contentment are two things that create a solid foundation for happiness. That’s what this quote, by Socrates, is all about. When we’re grateful and content, we’re able to enjoy what we have now. And while we pursue our goals for the future, we do so already with a foundation of happiness. Therefore, our happiness isn’t necessarily a result of having more. It’s the result of an unshakeable mindset and ability to enjoy the little things.
“Gratitude turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos into order, confusion into clarity…it makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow.”
This quote, by Melody Beattie, reminds us of all the things a sense of gratitude can bring. All these things ultimately bring us clarity and peace of mind. Besides turning what we have into enough and more, gratitude turns denial into acceptance. When things don’t go as planned, being grateful for what we still have and anything we learned in the process makes it easier to accept and not be in denial of what happened. By finding the positives in our past, we come to realize that things do happen for a reason. Life’s confusion and chaos can become a bit clearer. And when we apply the same sense of…
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“You can either experience the pain of discipline or the pain of regret. The choice is yours.”
“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.”
Depression Part 3: Finding the Cause and Working Toward the Solution
Living Life Poetically: Time and Essence
You’ve probably heard the saying, “Time is of the essence.” The saying is actually legal jargon, originating from contract law. A Time is of the essence clause would appear in an agreement between two parties when something needs to be done in a timely matter and any delay could have negative consequences. Well, this saying was the inspiration for the poem, “Time and Essence.” In life, we’re sometimes faced with “Time is of the essence” situations. Things that demand our immediate attention and time–like emergencies or tight deadlines. But if it’s important and not life-threatening, yes, time may be of the essence. However, if it causes us to not make…
“Happiness often sneaks in through a door you didn’t know you left open.”
In life, there are many doors, or roads, that lead to happiness. And we find ourselves trying to open these doors. However, more often than not, happiness isn’t planned or orchestrated. Instead, it can present itself without our deliberate effort–without us paving the way toward it. In this quote, John Barrymore describes this as a happiness that sneak in through doors we didn’t realize we left open. If we dig in a bit further, this quote reveals much more… Perhaps happiness isn’t all about trying to opening the doors that are already closed. Perhaps, the “key” to happiness doesn’t necessarily open these doors. Therefore, we should not only ask ourselves…
“Happiness is not something you postpone for the future; it is something you design for the present.”
Regardless of how happy we are, we all find ourselves sometimes fantasizing about a future that’s even better—one where we imagine ourselves being even happier. We place conditions on it, like “I’ll be happier when this happens, or that. Often that thing that needs to happen doesn’t come around today or tomorrow. Instead, it’s perpetually in the future. What’s worse, if and when things do fall into place, they may not have the effect we imagined. And so, we can easily find ourselves in an unending and futile pursuit of happiness. As this quote by Jim Rohn suggests, we must do the best we can to cultivate happiness in the…
“Happiness is a choice, not a result. Nothing will make you happy until you choose to be happy. No person will make you happy unless you decide to be happy. Your happiness will not come to you. It can only come from you.”
It’s a lot more convenient to believe that happiness is based on some kind of cause and effect relationship. And to a certain extent, that’s true. Certain things do make us happy. However, the point of this quote, by Ralph Marston, is that we shouldn’t rely on material things, events, or other people to achieve our own happiness. It has to come from within. It has to be as independent of external factors as possible, forming an unshakable, rock-solid foundation (i.e. joy). That is the choice that makes the needle on our compass point toward a state of happiness. Yes, things happen that might cause us to feel sad. But…
