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Change Quotes

    “The way out of the dehumanizing effects of modern capitalism and industrialism is not to change the system but to read good books.”

    Thomas Moore, Original Self | ★ Featured on this book list.

      “We are a population that is satisfied with sound-bite news, instant and opinionated political analysis, manipulative popular psychology, and insubstantial novels and magazines.  At the same time, and understandably, we feel the absence of meaning and are speechless when we learn of atrocities in our society.  We don’t know how to think about them because we don’t know how to think, and we don’t know how to think because we don’t believe that thinking for its own sake is worthy of our attention.  We educate our children to make a good living rather than to become thinking persons, and often we honor as celebrities those who have not made a genuine contribution to society but who mirror our own madness.”

      Thomas Moore, Original Self | ★ Featured on this book list.

        “We make a difference to other people when we give gifts to them, when we bring emotional labor to the table and do work that matters.  It’s hard for me to imagine that this way of living and working is available to only a few.  Yes, the cards are unfairly stacked against too many people.  Yes, there are too many barriers and not enough support.  But no, your ability to create and contribute isn’t determined at birth.  It’s a choice.” ~ Seth Godin, Whatcha Gonna Do With That Duck?

          “It feels much better to contribute to spreading love, than to contribute to destroying hate. Because ultimately, hate only exists from a lack of love. Darkness only exists from the absence of light.”

          Apollo Poetry, Good Men Project

            “When things get tough or uncomfortable, we tell ourselves: it’s OK to quit, it doesn’t matter, we’ll do it next time, we’re not disciplined enough, we suck at this, we can’t do it, it’s too hard, it would be nice to take a break, life is too short to struggle, we deserve a reward, just this once won’t matter, we’re going to fail, it’s better to fail quietly, we just don’t feel like it right now, let’s not think about this, hey a squirrel!  So what can we do if our story is working against us?  Change the damn story. Create a song to sing about yourself at the epic hero of your dreams. Sing this song daily, and be proud of it. Go after the dream, fight the forces of distraction and dullness and self-doubt, rise up to be your best self. You are the writer of your story, the composer of your song, and every moment is a chance to rewrite it, a new draft ready to be crafted into something better.” ~ Leo Babauta, Blog

              “So much of our lives takes place in our heads – in memory or imagination, in speculation or interpretation – that sometimes I feel that I can best change my life by changing the way I look at it.  As America’s wisest psychologist, William James, reminded us, ‘The greatest weapon against stress is our ability to choose one thought over another.’  It’s the perspective we choose – not the places we visit – that ultimately tells us where we stand.  Every time I take a trip, the experience acquires meaning and grows deeper only after I get back home and, sitting still, begin to convert the sights I’ve seen into lasting insights.” ~ Pico Iyer, The Art of Stillness

               

                “In Latin there is a dictum: agere sequitur esse – to do follows to be; action follows being.  It is tremendously beautiful.  Don’t try to change your action – try to find out your being, and action will follow.  The action is secondary; being is primary.  Action is something that you do; being is something that you are.  Action comes out of you, but action is just a fragment.  Even if all of your actions are collected together they will not be equal to your being because all actions collected together will be your past.  What about your future?  Your being contains your past, your future, your present; your being contains your eternity.  Your actions, even if all collected, will just be of the past.  Past is limited, future is unlimited.  That which has happened is limited; it can be defined, it has already happened.  That which has not happened is unlimited, indefinable.  Your being contains eternity, your actions contain only your past.” ~ Osho, Love, Freedom, Alonenss: The Koan of Relationships

                  “Whether people change their mindset in order to further their career, heal from a loss, help their children thrive, lose weight, or control their anger, change needs to be maintained.  It’s amazing – once a problem improves, people often stop doing what caused it to improve.  Once you feel better, you stop taking your medicine.  But change doesn’t work that way.  When you’ve lost weight, the issue doesn’t go away.  Or when your child starts to love learning, the problem isn’t solved forever.  Or when you and your partner start communicating better, that’s not the end of it.  These changes have to be supported or they can go away faster than they appeared.” ~ Carol Dweck, Mindset

                    “Discontent is the first necessity of progress.” ~ Thomas A. Edison