“A bend in the road is not the end of the road…Unless you fail to make the turn.”
Life is full of twists and turns, which can make it difficult to stay on course when you have a one-track mind. Having a one-track mind is like constantly going straight and never bending the wheel. This quote, by Helen Keller, reminds us that without making the turn–being willing to embrace change–we’ll inevitably crash. So what if we embrace change? What if we choose to round the corner? Who knows where we might find ourselves and what new direction the road will lead.
“Let your past make you better, not bitter.”
Sometimes the would have, could have, and should haves of our past can seem like a constantly growing and endless list. And each regret or unfortunate event can make us feel bitter. But what if we take every past regret and bad incident and use them to fuel our drive to make things better? This anonymous quote is a great reminder to not get bogged down by our negative past but to use the wisdom we’ve gathered from it to inspire positive change.
“Your Monday morning thoughts set the tone for your whole week. See yourself getting stronger, and living a fulfilling, happier, and healthier life.”
For the Monday to Friday five-day workweek worker, Mondays can be the most dreaded day of the week. Waking up on a Monday, it can be hard to wave off the feeling of hopelessness and despair. The thought of another five days shakes you to your core, and you would give anything for just one more day of weekend. If this is you, you’re not alone. Maybe your dreaded day is not Monday. Depending on your schedule, it could be a Wednesday, Friday, or Saturday–whatever that day is that commences your workweek, the feeling is unfortunately the same. This quote, by Germany Kent, helps bring hope out of despair on…
“There is neither happiness nor misery in the world; there is only the comparison of one state with another, nothing more. He who has felt the deepest grief is best able to experience supreme happiness.”
This quote appears in The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas. It reminds us that happiness and misery are not always black and white. They’re relative. For instance, when someone who always gets what they want gets something, they are happy. However, their happiness would pale in comparison to someone else getting the exact same thing after many years of patience and hard work. So yes–grief, pain, and sadness are not things we embrace. To live life positively, it’s better to have as little of these things in it as possible. But when these emotions and experiences do occur, there is a silver lining…Our deepest woes help us to…
“If you’re reading this… Congratulations, you’re alive. If that’s not something to smile about, then I don’t know what is.”
This quote is from the book, Monsters Under Your Head, by Chad Sugg. It’s the kind of quote you’d want to post somewhere you can see everyday, because it actually speaks to you as you read it. It reminds you to appreciate the life we sometimes take for granted, especially on those days you struggle to find something that makes you smile. It also reminds you to live each day as full as you can, especially on those days you feel unmotivated.
“Happiness is not something ready-made. It comes from your own actions.”
Finding happiness doesn’t always come automatically. Some days are harder than others. Sometimes without any known reason. As this quote by Dalai Lama XIV reminds us, happiness is not “ready-made.” But even though it’s not ready-made, this quote also reminds us we do have some level of autonomy over it. There are actions you can take for your happiness. For instance, understanding yourself–Increasing the things that make you happy and avoiding the things that do the opposite. Ensuring you have the right support system around you. Surrounding yourself with positive things and people. Seeking counseling when needed. Finding peace through meditation and prayer. Taking better care of your body and…
“The struggles we endure today will be the ‘good old days’ we laugh about tomorrow.”
This quote, by Aaron Lauritsen, reminds us that we might one day look back at the struggles we’re going through today and laugh about them. Perhaps it’s not a memory we laugh about. Or we don’t look back and think ‘those were the good old days.’ But one thing is certain. Whatever the struggle, it was a crazy and unusual situation that we made our way out of. We’ll manage to cling to the good moments, however few. We’ll hold on to the lessons learned. And we’ll realize how strong we must be to have overcome that struggle and be where we are today.
“If something is wrong, fix it now. But train yourself not to worry, worry fixes nothing.”
When something goes wrong, the natural reaction is to worry about it. But at the end of the day, that worry does absolutely nothing to make the problem go away. In fact, it can paralyze us and make it harder to do something about it. This quote, by Ernest Hemingway, reminds us that the problem is still going to be there unless we do something. So we have to make an intentional effort to act more and worry less. The more we train ourselves to do so, the more natural it becomes.
“You never fail until you stop trying.”
This anonymous quote forces us to ask ourselves at which point we can legitimately say we failed at something. The simple answer? We can only say we’ve failed when we’ve stopped working at it. When we stop trying, we put and end–a full stop–to whatever it is we’re trying to accomplish. Technically, that’s when it fails. So, if there’s something you really want that you feel has failed, ask yourself if you’ve stopped trying. If not, then technically it hasn’t failed. It’s still in motion.
“The only impossible journey is the one you never begin.”
There was a time when a person walking on the moon was considered impossible. In fact, there was a time when the thought hadn’t even entered anyone’s mind. But one day, the unthinkable happened. An impossible journey was realized. How? Yes, a great deal of technology, science, and mathematics went into it, but most importantly, we dared to begin. This is a great illustration for any “impossible” journeys we have in our own lives. And this quote, by Tony Robbins, reminds us that those journeys will always be impossible so long as we never begin.