Excerpt: Fear holds you back. You can’t live your best life held back. Read our 46 fantastic quotes on fear to help you live your best life despite it.
“Do you want to be a living being or a thinking being? Right now, ninety percent of the time, you are only thinking about life, not living it. Have you come into this world to experience life or to think about it? Your mental process is a very small happening compared to the life process, but right now it has become far more important. It is time for humanity to shift the significance to the life process once again. The need is an urgent one. Our lives depend on it.”
Sadhguru, Inner Engineering (Page 162)
Excerpt: Learn how to strip away everything that is covering, distracting, and blocking what Thomas Moore might consider to be… your Original Self.
Excerpt: A short story where two elderly men describe the most potent moments of their lives—moments when they were, ironically, closest to death…
“People ask me, ‘What is the use of climbing Mount Everest?’ and my answer must at once be, ‘It is of no use.’ There is not the slightest prospect of any gain whatsoever. Oh, we may learn a little about the behavior of the human body at high altitudes, and possibly medical men may turn our observation to some account for the purposes of aviation. But otherwise nothing will come of it. We shall not bring back a single bit of gold or silver, not a gem, nor any coal or iron… If you cannot understand that there is something in man which responds to the challenge of this mountain and goes out to meet it, that the struggle is the struggle of life itself upward and forever upward, then you won’t see why we go. What we get from this adventure is just sheer joy. And joy is, after all, the end of life. We do not live to eat and make money. We eat and make money to be able to live. That is what life means and what life is for.”
George Mallory, Climbing Everest
“Well-being is just a deep sense of pleasantness within. If your body feels pleasant, we call this health. If it becomes very pleasant, we call this pleasure. If your mind becomes pleasant, we call this peace. If it becomes very pleasant, we call this joy. If your emotions become pleasant, we call this love. If they become very pleasant, we call this compassion. If your life energies become pleasant, we call this bliss. If they become very pleasant, we call this ecstasy. This is all that you are seeking: pleasantness within and without. When pleasantness is within, it is termed peace, joy, happiness. When your surroundings become pleasant, it gets branded success. If you’re not interested in any of this and want to go to heaven, what are you seeking? Just otherworldly success! So, essentially all human experience is only a question of pleasantness and unpleasantness in varying degrees.”
Sadhguru, Inner Engineering (Page 26)
“We can’t play out the stories of our lives according to the script other people have for us. That script may say we can’t get anything we need unless we’re sick. But you and I know that a life can be sick even when the mind and body are healthy. And sometimes the only way to heal a life is to give yourself the gift of a year in which you have an adventure where you make a dream come true. So what if you have to fight to win the freedom to give yourself that? Suppose you don’t do it. You’ll regret it forever.”
Mira Kirshenbaum, The Gift of a Year (Page 117)
“We are born on our own /
And we die on our own /
And we’re here to make meaning /
Of what happens in between /
We could hate, we could love /
We could doubt, we could trust /
But we’re here to make meaning /
For as long as we’re breathing and it’s alright /
Wherever you are, it’s alright /
Whoever you are, it’s alright”
Alicia Keys, Authors of Forever, ALICIA
Word choice matters. And with the opening concept of meaning in this above quote, I think Alicia nails it: We’re here to make meaning. We’re not here to find meaning. And I don’t think we’re here to mean nothing. Why be given life if we’re not meant to live? Why be given brains if we’re not meant to think? Why be given eyes if we’re not meant to see? Why be given hands if we’re not meant to touch? Why be given feet if we’re not meant to move? We’re certainly not born just to die—what’s the point in believing that? We’re born on our own, yes, but we’re not alone and we’re not born without what we need to make meaning—of that I’m sure.
Read More »Alicia Keys Quote from Authors of Forever on Making Meaning—Not Finding It.“To make life a little better for people less fortunate than you, that’s what I think a meaningful life is. One lives not just for oneself but for one’s community.”
Ruth Bader Ginsburg, CNN
“Reality is neutral. Our reactions reflect back and create our world. Judge, and feel separate and lonely. Anger, and lose peace of mind. Cling, and live in anxiety. Fantasize, and miss the present. Desire, and suffer until you have it. Heaven and hell are right here, right now.”
Naval Ravikant, Medium
“Sophisticated foods are bittersweet (wine, beer, coffee, chocolate). Addictive relationships are cooperative and competitive. Work becomes flow at the limits of ability. The flavor of life is on the edge.”
Naval Ravikant, Medium
“Sister, there are people who went to sleep all over the world last night, poor and rich and white and black, but they will never wake again. Sister, those who expected to rise did not, their beds became their cooling boards, and their blankets became their winding sheets. And those dead folks would give anything, anything at all for just five minutes of this… So you watch yourself about complaining, Sister. What you’re supposed to do when you don’t like a thing is change it. If you can’t change it, change the way you think about it. Don’t complain.”
Maya Angelou, Wouldn’t Take Nothing for My Journey Now
Excerpt: Chaos is a constant reality in life. Order—rules—is the antidote. These quotes from 12 Rules For Life are deep and will give you the insight you need to start battling the chaos in your life.
“When you like a flower, you just pluck it. But, when you love a flower, you water it daily. One who understands this, understands life.”
Buddha
“Liking” is superficial. “Loving” is deep. “Liking” is occasional and when it’s convenient. “Loving” is regular and prioritized. “Liking” keeps you the same. “Loving” helps you grow. One who understands the difference between “liking” and “loving” in life understands the difference between “existing” and “living” in life.
Read More »Buddha Quote on Life and Understanding The Difference Between “I Like You” and “I Love You.”“When your world moves too fast and you lose yourself in the chaos, introduce yourself to each color of the sunset. Reacquaint yourself with the earth beneath your feet. Thank the air that surrounds you with every breath you take. Find yourself in the appreciation of life.”
Christy Ann Martine
Out on a hike the other day, I crossed paths with a youthful, older couple who was in search of the same landmarks as I was. We shared the hiking path for a while and struck up a conversation about all of the best hiking spots we’ve experienced. We started by pointing out the amazing diversity of trails right in Western New York, then talked about spots in Pennsylvania, then steered the conversation towards “must-do” hikes out in Tennessee. You could feel the joy that the outdoors had brought them over the years and the beautiful memories that came with their outdoor experiences.
Read More »Christy Ann Martine Quote on Environment and How Nature Brings Out The Best In Us
