“The renewal of societies and organizations can go forward only if someone cares. Apathy and lowered motivation are the most widely noted characteristics of a civilization in decline. Apathetic men and women accomplish nothing. Those who believe in nothing change nothing for the better. They renew nothing and heal no one, least of all themselves.”
John W. Gardner, Self-Renewal (Page xxi)
“Gigi didn’t make a distinction between your burdens and her own. She truly believed the message of the Gospel. She saw loving and serving others not as a responsibility but as an honor. She was joyfully her brothers’ and sisters’ keeper.”
Will Smith, Will (Page 38)
“Giving yourself the gift of a year has a magical impact on your life because it restores the natural, necessary balance between giving to yourself and giving to others. There’s no reason for you to leave yourself outside of the equation. In the ecology of your life, you’re as important as anyone. If things curdle inside of you because you’ve neglected yourself, then ultimately they curdle for everyone.”
Mira Kirshenbaum, The Gift of a Year (Page 10)
Iain Thomas Quote on Trying To Use Self-Love In Response To Pain—Not More Pain
“Why do we hurt ourselves more, when other people hurt us? Why do we beat ourselves up, for feeling beat up? Maybe the lesser pain you cause yourself distracts you from the bigger pain inside. And it’s easy to get stuck in a kind of loop of pain. You’re hurt, so you hurt yourself some more. But the correct response to pain, is self-love. When we’re hurt, we need to take better care of ourselves. Not worse. It can be hard to be conscious in the moment and remember to be kind to ourselves when someone hurts us. But you need to try.”
Iain Thomas, Every Word You Cannot Say (Page 116)
Beyond the Quote (23/365)
What does beating ourselves up look like? It can manifest in destructive self-talk: “Why am I such an idiot?!” “I don’t deserve to be happy.” “Why do I even bother trying? It’s not like anything is going to change.” It can manifest in negative talk and conversation which might include tearing down the people around you, purposefully excluding yourself from social situations because you don’t feel worthy, or even inserting yourself into the role of being a victim, a loser, a trouble-maker, or a target. It might also manifest in physical harm. This is where you might see people punching walls (or other assorted objects), purposefully not taking care of themselves, or even abusing drugs, alcohol, or other substances. Why do any of this at all? Maybe because the pain it causes distracts us from a bigger pain inside.
Read More »Iain Thomas Quote on Trying To Use Self-Love In Response To Pain—Not More Pain
“‘People don’t know how much you know until they know how much you care about them.’ You could be the world’s greatest expert on something but if the people you work with don’t know that you care about them, they won’t listen to you much.”
J. Keith Murnighan, Do Nothing!