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“Life can only be understood backwards, but it must be lived forward.”
This quote, by Soren Kierkegaard, explains that life is best understood backwards–in hindsight. But the trouble is that we must live it forward. We must live it in that unsettling space that falls between a confounding present and an uncertain future. As such, we often don’t understand why things are…
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“To be successful you must accept all challenges that come your way. You can’t just accept the ones you like.”
It’s usually considered a faux pas to “reply all” to a group email if the reply isn’t relevant to the entire group. But if everyone in a group email represents a life challenge, you do want to select “reply all”. According to this quote, by Mike Gafka, that is key…
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“When you’ve seen beyond yourself, then you may find peace of mind is waiting there.”
Consider your state of mind when you’re feeling stressed, anxious, or confused. Your focus suddenly becomes more limited to the one or several things causing that particular emotion. Everything else seems to disappear. However, this quote from a Beatles song by George Harrison, is about being able to notice things…
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“When one’s mind is made up, this diminishes fear; knowing what must be done does away with fear.”
There’s something about making up your mind about something that has a way of silencing excuses, doubts, and fear. All you see is action. This quote, by Rosa Parks, encapsulates this idea. The higher your resolve, the lower your excuses, doubts, and most of all, fear. For instance, let’s say…
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“Look on every exit as being an entrance somewhere else.”
It’s physically impossible to leave a place and not find yourself in another. This quote, by screenwriter and playwright Tom Stoppard, is about applying this practical concept to life. Whether it’s leaving a room, a country, a relationship, or career, something else awaits on the other side of that exit.…
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“The purpose of fear is to raise your awareness, not to stop your progress.”
Fear is often regarded as one of those emotions we must do everything we can to suppress. And rightly so! However, as this quote by Steve Maraboli suggests, it’s not necessarily fear itself that should be a matter of concern. Instead, it’s the effect it has on us, which can…
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“If you`re doing your best, you won`t have any time to worry about failure.”
This quote, by H. Jackson Brown Jr., puts the fear of failure into perspective. The fact of the matter is that if you’re doing the best you can and fail, there really isn’t much more you can do or could have done. There’s only what you can do afterwards, which…
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“Never fear shadows. They simply mean there’s a light shining nearby.”
Shadows tend to have an ominous connotation, especially in film where they might indicate that something frightful is about to appear on screen. But in order to produce the ominous shadow, there must be light not only present but nearby. This quote, by Ruth E. Renkel, reminds us of the…
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“Worry is like sand in an oyster. A little produces a pearl, too much kills the animal.”
Too much worry can be destabilizing and paralyzing. Not to mention, detrimental to our health. This is the level of worry that automatically comes to mind when we think about what worry means. We usually think of it at its extreme. However, this quote (author unclear) invites us to think…
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The “Life Maze”
There’s a big difference between the maze you see drawn on paper and a physical maze one, typically made out of hedges. Sometimes, when we’re not sure which way to go in life, it helps to imagine our life as a physical maze. This depiction reveals three important realities about…