“Challenges are gifts that force us to search for a new center of gravity. Don’t fight them. Just find a new way to stand.”
Challenges are things we try to eliminate or reduce as much as possible. And rightfully so. Everything is going smoothly until a challenge comes along to throw us off our balance. But is that necessarily always a bad thing? When practicing yoga, the more we test our physical balance the better we get at maintaining it. Similarly, the more we test our balance in life, the better we get at maintaining that as well. As this quote by Oprah Winfrey suggests, being thrown off our balance forces us to try to find new ways to remain standing. And only the things that take us off our balance–ie challenges–allow this to…
“When you connect to the silence within you, that is when you can make sense of the disturbance going on around you.”
When there’s chaos and stress around us, it’s only natural that we begin to internalize it. In a way, the stressors enter our bloodstream, affecting our mental and physical health. But what if we can create an impenetrable barrier between the stresses around us and our inner selves? What if we can tap into an inner sense of peace that can ride any storm? That’s what this quote, by Stephen Richards, is about–Finding inner peace. Moreover, when we can find and hold on to our inner peace, the chaos around us begins to make more sense.
“Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”
This quote is from Matthew 6 verse 34. It’s part of a longer passage about worry that begins at verse 25. In the longer passage, it talks about worrying about acquiring material possessions such as food and shelter. It compares our worry about these things to birds, who also need these things to survive but are much more carefree. However, they manage to acquire these necessities each day. Their creator, God, knows what they need and makes sure those things are provided to them. Yes, we’re not birds, we’re humans. And unlike the birds, we have bills to pay and various financial constraints and obligations, especially in today’s world. But…
“Pray, and let God worry.”
There’s a lot of meaning and value packed into this short quote by Martin Luther. “Pray, and let God worry”–five words and two calls to action that can be life-altering. They seem simple, however it’s easy to forget to pray–step 1. And if and when we do pray, we forget step 2. We hang on to our worry instead of handing it over to God. Together, both steps may not come naturally. They may take time to develop and become a habit. They require a lot of faith and trust that everything will eventually work out for the best. But once mastered, it becomes much easier to surmount any of…
“Remember, today is the tomorrow you worried about yesterday.”
This quote, by Dale Carnegie (Carnagey), is perfect for those moments when worry overtakes us. It reminds us that the things we worry about for tomorrow will come and go. Moreover, we are reminded that we often manage to face our worries from our yesterdays each and every day. We manage to pull through to another day. If we understand this has been the precedent, perhaps we can have less worry about our tomorrows. At the back of our minds, we can be certain that tomorrow will come; and the worries for tomorrow will soon become memories of yesterday.
“No exact recipe for today. Gather all available ingredients and whip yourself up something delicious.”
Sometimes our days can be so laid out and scripted that they leave no room for us to just be. This quote, by Lin-Manuel Miranda, reminds us that some days don’t need to follow a strict plan or schedule. Some days need “no exact recipe.” We can use what we already have in our pantry–the ingredients our lives have been blessed with–and create something delicious. Therefore, we need such unplanned days. Without them, we eventually lose steam. We may, eventually, begin to ask ourselves, “what’s the point?” But days without exact recipes keep us grounded, re-energized, and focused on the essential. So once in a while, put down those measuring…
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“You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, ‘I lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along’.”
“Life is like a camera. Focus on what’s important. Capture the good times. And if things don’t work out, just take another shot.”
This Too Shall Pass
“This Too Shall Pass” is an adage that is both universal and timeless. So much so that it’s somewhat uncertain when and where it comes from. It has appeared in various forms and translations throughout different cultures and centuries. It has appeared in Jewish folklore about the bible’s King Solomon as well as in 13th-century Persian literature (among other origins). The main idea in the saying is that nothing in the human condition lasts forever. Anything that happens, good or bad, will one day pass. This can be both humbling and consoling. When life feels arduous or your situation feels unbearable, it is rather consoling to know that “this too…
A year from now everything you’re stressing about won’t even matter
Perhaps the part that says “everything” can be modified to say “almost everything.” Nevertheless, this famous saying, by an unknown author, is great for putting our worries into perspective. That’s because most of the things we’re stressed about today would have already come and gone. Whatever the outcome (good or bad) would have already happened. Some things will work out and some things won’t. Whatever the case may be, it won’t be the end of the world. Life goes on. Not only will most of the things we’re stressed about now no longer be relevant in a year, but we most likely wouldn’t even recall what they all were.
Living Life Poetically: Moments in Time
Whether you took Philosophy in college or not, you’ve probably heard the much-debated question: If a tree falls in the forest and no one’s there to hear it, does it make a sound? Well, here’s another philosophical question for you to ponder: Is there such a thing as time without change? Lately, I’ve been working on another writing project outside of this blog. And in the process, I literally had to stop in the middle of the page to consider the relationship between time and change. Examples of change are as simple as when we physically move from point A to point B, the position of the sun in the…
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“You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backward.”
Living Life Poetically: “They Tried so Hard”
“Don’t start your day with the broken pieces of yesterday. Every day is a fresh start. Every morning we wake up is the first day of the rest of our life.”
The Debbie Downer Effect: How to Stay Positive Yet Supportive
So you happen to have a close friend or relative who’s always complaining about something or another. They’re always sharing some kind of bad news, and things never seem to be going right in their lives. But if things happen to be going well, it’s only momentary. Maybe for a week, maximum. Before you know it, they’re back at it again with their negativity. The Debbie Downer and the “Debbie Downer Effect” This person might be what is called, a “Debbie Downer.” And when a “Debbie Downer” brings us down emotionally, we experience what we’ll refer to as the “Debbie Downer Effect.” It’s one thing to have a streak of…
