“In an age where everyone appears to be producing constantly, it’s forgivable to assume you must be producing constantly too. If you are producing content, perhaps you should be. However, I don’t think you want to produce content. I think you want to make art. I think you need to make art. Art is a different animal entirely. It’s creation doesn’t abide by the same rules as content. Content is made for the masses and it is often soulless, plastic and easily replicable. Art, on the other hand, is self-expression. It’s soaked in your own blood. It’s as rich as figs drowning in a bowl of sugar and cream. It’s as unique as the Katana.”
Cole Schafer
“We all understand what optimism means; we all know what a relationship is. But the secret to finding contentment and fulfillment in your life is not understanding optimism, but living optimistically. It is not about intellectualizing the value of relationships, but diving in and allowing yourself to connect at an emotional level with someone else. Go ahead and care about your buddies at work or the barista who makes your coffee every day. These aren’t transactions—these are the jewels of life. Allow yourself to be vulnerable and take the risk of full engagement.”
Bert R. Mandelbaum, MD, via The Win Within (Page 144)
“When adversity or temptation arises, we are met with more than one path. Which path we take depends on our character. Just because one path appears to be paved with gold does not mean that it does not eventually turn to dirt. Those who choose the golden path cut corners and fail to adhere to values that are crucial to the character-building process. The glamour of instant gratification overshadows the reality of how it can affect our future. When it all falls apart, a lack of experience in dealing with adversity can leave us in a much worse situation than before. Nothing in life is free, and which every new path we must start from dirt and build our own golden road. The adversities we face along the way are all important building blocks to help us define the kind of person we want to become.”
Bert R. Mandelbaum, MD, via The Win Within (Page 140)
“We are all born into debt, a social debt. We have been given life and the opportunities for a successful life that are in no way our own doing. So, turn it around. Take the initiative to set up the success of others, even if the favor is never returned. Take those daily, easily avoidable opportunities to reach out. Pay it forward, donate your time, resources, energy, and money to something or someone, and it will be meaningful. These acts of the heart can be small, subtle, even unnoticed; but know that you seized a chance to positively affect someone else. You will learn, and most importantly feel, that compassion and kindness are the highest form of human emotion, the form that comes with the highest dividends, taking you closer to the victorious spirit and your win within.”
Bert R. Mandelbaum, MD, via The Win Within (Page 120)
“That troublesome client—thank you, it’s helping me develop better boundaries. That traffic jam—thank you, it gave me time to call my wife and have a nice, meandering conversation. That rejection email—thank you, it forced me to reevaluate and improve my work. The political realities of our time–thank you, it’s a chance to test myself, to really stick to what I believe in. That loss—thank you, for reminding me of what truly matters in life.”
Ryan Holiday
“Why is it do you think that people get married?”
Beverly Clark, via Shall We Dance (2004)
“Passion.”
“No.”
“It’s interested because I would have taken you for a romantic. Why then?”
“Because we need a witness to our lives. There’s a billion people on the planet… I mean, what does any one life really mean? But in a marriage, you’re promising to care about everything. The good things, the bad things, the terrible things, the mundane things… all of it, all of the time, every day. You’re saying ‘Your life will not go unnoticed because I will notice it. Your life will not go un-witnessed because I will be your witness’.”
“Rich experiences can make you happier than simply being rich.”
Bert R. Mandelbaum, MD, via The Win Within (Page 103)
“As I see it, life is always a great journey—with many highs, regressions, and failures, but no destination. It’s our task to find every opportunity for adventure and challenge along that grand journey.”
Bert R. Mandelbaum, MD, via The Win Within (Page 102)
“Wonder and wander come from the same root. A fixed mind becomes incapable of wondering, because it has become incapable of wandering. So be a wanderer, like a cloud, and each moment brings infinite surprises. Remain homeless. Homelessness doesn’t mean not to live in a home. It simply means never become attached to anything. Even if you live in a palace, never become attached. If a moment comes to move, you move—without looking back. Nothing holds you. You use everything, you enjoy everything, but you remain the master.”
Osho, Everyday Osho (Page 340)
“Each one of us has the ability to manifest hope and optimism inside ourselves. We can calm our minds, motivate ourselves, and master our attitudes. But there are many things that we cannot prepare for, as we don’t completely live within ourselves. There is an external, outside world that brings to us challenges and hardships that we must confront every day. Some we expect, some we do not, but there is always something that we can do to be ready: develop a consistent attitude of hope and optimism. These twin attitudes collaborate in a wonderful synergy that prepares you for any and all circumstances. Have hope, think positively, and the world will be yours!”
Bert R. Mandelbaum, MD, via The Win Within (Page 93)
“In Adventures of an Incurable Optimist, a documentary about optimism and its power, [Michael J.] Fox asked a number of people how they would define optimism. One boy smiled and said, ‘Optimism is like Santa.’ He was right: optimism is a gift giver, one that keeps on giving. I have learned that optimism will help you and others find your way even when the path is not obvious. It is an attitude and a way of life that can and will drive us to where we need to be.”
Bert R. Mandelbaum, MD, via The Win Within (Page 89)
“There’s no such thing as lost. The term itself assumes an end-state that simply does not exist in your life. Life is nothing more than a constant process of finding. Learning, uncovering, becoming, discovering. Treat it that way: Give yourself some grace and remember that every single moment—good and bad—contributes to your life’s story. That story always reads better when the struggle is profound. So, embrace it. You’re not lost, you’re just finding.“
Sahil Bloom
“Inner peace is not something you assemble externally; it is a perspective in your mind that is anchored in the truth of impermanence. When you deeply understand that all situations change, you cling to everything less. You appreciate the things that are enjoyable, and you are not troubled when they end. You face challenges when they arise, but you know that no storm lasts forever.”
Yung Pueblo
“Optimism is vital precisely because, throughout the course of life, so many things will go wrong. Trivial or catastrophic, setbacks and upsets pepper our existence, but they have to. We wouldn’t be human if we didn’t run into problems. We wouldn’t develop without the experience of them. Our lives aren’t measured in a vacuum. We define ourselves—and are defined by others—by how we react to the things that happen to us. Every occurrence, good or bad, presents an opportunity for knowledge and growth. A negative experience doesn’t warrant a negative reaction. We have to surpass our temptation to resent or withdraw from our afflictions if we are to learn from them.”
Bert R. Mandelbaum, MD, via The Win Within (Page 77)
“The Olympics allow for expression of the human passion that resides, too often dormant, in every moment of life, from the monumental, to the mundane. We watch the games not as spectators but as fellow participants in our hearts. We indulge the fantasy that we have something great in us. The athletes we idolize are masters of the same internal fire that you and I possess. In every facet of life, there is an opportunity to assert the Olympic spirit—the victorious spirit—to push for achievement previously not thought possible and dare to dream.”
Bert R. Mandelbaum, MD, via The Win Within (Page 44)
“‘These are my dreams! Why live if I abandon them in difficulty? That is when they need me the most.’ Have you ever said those words? Have you ever accessed the victorious spirit within? Because here’s the secret: it’s resting within you, right at this very moment.”
Bert R. Mandelbaum, MD, via The Win Within (Page 35)
“It is best not to drink too deeply from a cup full of fame. It can be intoxicating, and intoxicated people often do foolish things.”
John Wooden, via The Win Within (Page 31)
“We all do this. Instead of using our minds to solve problems, we set it to work on problems that don’t exist. Instead of using it to move forward, we use it to look backward, pouring over what already happened. Instead of using it to feel good, we use it to torture ourselves. How crazy is that? And how counterproductive? You have been given an incredibly powerful too—this brain and imagination of yours. But like a gun or a knife, it can just as easily harm the user as it can protect or serve them. We have to train and discipline ourselves, we have to direct these resources properly. We have to channel our creativity not into fear and anxiety, but into purpose and progress.”
Ryan Holiday