“The truth is, there’s no better time to be happy than right now. If not now, when? Your life will always be filled with challenges. It’s best to admit this to yourself and decide to be happy anyway.” ~ Richard Carlson, Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff
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“An argument that happened while you were walking out the door on your way to work is no longer an actual argument, it’s a thought in your mind.” ~ Richard Carlson, Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff
“Indeed, the important question in terms of becoming more peaceful isn’t whether or not you’re going to have negative thoughts – you are – it’s what you choose to do with the ones that you have.” ~ Richard Carlson, Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff
“When you focus not on what you want, but on what you have, you end up getting more of what you want anyway.” ~ Richard Carlson, Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff
“Happiness can’t be found when we are yearning for new desires.” ~ Richard Carlson, Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff
“When you do too many things at once, it’s impossible to be present-moment oriented. Thus, you not only lose out on much of the potential enjoyment of what you are doing, but you also become far less focused and effective.” ~ Richard Carlson, Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff
“The next time you’re feeling bad, rather than fight it, try to relax. See if, instead of panicking, you can be graceful and calm. Know that if you don’t fight your negative feelings, if you are graceful, they will pass away just as surely as the sun sets in the evening.” ~ Richard Carlson, Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff
“If you are a generally happy person who rarely gets annoyed and bothered, then you can move from place to place, from person to person, with very little negative impact.” ~ Richard Carlson, Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff
“We tend to believe that if we were somewhere else – on vacation, with another partner, in a different career, a different home, a different circumstance – somehow we would be happier and more content. We wouldn’t!” ~ Richard Carlson, Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff
“When we judge or criticize another person, it says nothing about that person; it merely says something about our own need to be critical.”
Richard Carlson, Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff
“Our minds are powerful instruments. When we decide that something is beyond our reach, it’s very difficult to pierce through this self-created hurdle.” ~ Richard Carlson, Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff
“When someone acts in a way that seems strange to you, rather than reacting in your usual way, such as, ‘I can’t believe they would do that,’ instead say something to yourself like ‘I see, that must be the way she sees things in the world. Very interesting.'” ~ Richard Carlson, Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff
“Thinking of someone to love each day keeps your resentment away!” ~ Richard Carlson, Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff
“Ironically, the less you care about seeking approval, the more approval you seem to get.” ~ Richard Carlson, Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff
“Your heart, the compassionate part of you, knows that it’s impossible to feel better at the expense of someone else.” ~ Richard Carlson, Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff
“It’s true that other people do weird things (who doesn’t?), but we are the ones getting upset, so we are the ones who need to change.” ~ Richard Carlson, Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff
“There are always going to be people who disagree with you, people who do things differently, and things that don’t work out. If you fight against this principle of life you’ll spend most of your life fighting battles.” ~ Richard Carlson, Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff
“When you understand where people are coming from, what they are trying to say, what’s important to them, and so forth, being understood flows naturally; it falls into place with virtually no effort.” ~ Richard Carlson, Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff
“The first step in becoming a more peaceful person is to have the humility to admit that, in most cases, you’re creating your own emergencies. Life will usually go on if things don’t go according to plan.” ~ Richard Carlson, Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff