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    “We change bit by bit, day by day, habit by habit.  We are continually undergoing microevolutions of the self.  Each habit is like a suggestion: ‘Hey, maybe this is who I am.’  If you finish a book, then perhaps you are the type of person who likes reading.  If you go to the gym, then perhaps you are the type of person who likes to exercise.  If you practice playing the guitar, perhaps you are the type of person who likes music.  Every action you take is a vote for the type of person you wish to become.  No single instance will transform your beliefs, but as the votes build up, so does the evidence of your new identity.” ~ James Clear, Atomic Habits

      “We are often sad and suffer a lot when things change, but change and impermanence have a positive side.  Thanks to impermanence, everything is possible.  Life itself is possible.  If a grain of corn is not impermanent, it can never be transformed into a stalk of corn.  If the stalk were not impermanent, it could never provide us with the ear of corn we eat.  If your daughter is not impermanent, she cannot grow up to become a woman.  Then your grandchildren would never manifest.  So instead of complaining about impermanence, we should say, ‘Warm welcome and long live impermanence.’ We should be happy.  When we can see the miracle of impermanence, our sadness and suffering will pass.” ~ Thich Nhat Hanh, No Death, No Fear

        “Yes, there are problems, I agree. There are great problems.  Life is such a hell.  Misery is there, poverty is there, violence is there, all kinds of madnesses are afloat, that’s true—but still, I insist the problem arises in the individual soul.  The problem is there because individuals are in chaos.  The total chaos is nothing but a combined phenomenon: we have all poured our chaos into it.  The world is nothing but a relationship; we are related with each other.  If I am neurotic and you are neurotic, then the relationship will be even more neurotic—it is multiplied, not just doubled.  And everybody is neurotic; hence, the world is neurotic.  The beginning has to be with you: You are the ‘world problem.’  So don’t avoid the reality of your inner world—that is the first thing.” ~ Osho, Fame, Fortune, and Ambition

          “When people are ready to, they change. They never do it before then, and sometimes they die before they get around to it. You can’t make them change if they don’t want to, just like when they do want to, you can’t stop them.” ~ Andy Warhol, via Nitch

            “We are all capable of contributing to the world in a way that makes a profound difference.  A rare few go big.  Make the big gesture.  Take the big risk.  Expose themselves on a grand scale.  Create and then ride the big wave.  But most of us, myself included, take a different yet equally valid path.  It’s the path of the ripple.  Simple actions, moments, and experiences.  Created, offered, and delivered with such a purity of intention and depth of integrity and clarity that they set in motion a ripple that, quietly, in its own way, in its own time, expands outward.  Interacting with, touching, mattering to people we’ve never met in ways we never conceived.” ~ Jonathan Fields, How To Live A Good Life

              “Our most radical changes in perspective often happen at the tail end of our worst moments.  It’s only when we feel intense pain that we’re willing to look at our values and question why they seem to be failing us.  We need some sort of existential crisis to take an objective look at how we’ve been deriving meaning in our life, and then consider changing course.” ~ Mark Mason, The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck

                “We all have values for ourselves.  We protect these values.  We try to live up to them and we justify them and maintain them.  Even if we don’t mean to, that’s how our brain is wired.  If I believe I’m a nice guy, I’ll avoid situations that could potentially contradict that belief.  If I believe I’m an awesome cook, I’ll seek out opportunities to prove that to myself over and over again.  The belief always takes precedence.  Until we change how we view ourselves, what we believe we are and are not, we cannot overcome our avoidance and anxiety.  We cannot change.” ~ Mark Mason, The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck

                  “I have found that battling despair does not mean closing my eyes to the enormity of the tasks of effecting change, nor ignoring the strength and the barbarity of the forces aligned against us. It means teaching, surviving and fighting with the most important resource I have, myself, and taking joy in that battle. It means, for me, recognizing the enemy outside and the enemy within, and knowing that my work is part of our power, and knowing that this work did not begin with my birth nor will it end with my death. And it means knowing that within this continuum, my life and my love and my work has particular power and meaning relative to others. It means trout fishing on the Missisquoi River at dawn and tasting the green silence, and knowing that this beauty too is mine forever.” ~ Audre Lorde, The Cancer Journals