“Most people walk the earth unaware that they are not seeing with their eyes. Instead, they are seeing with their emotions, and often these emotions are just the echoes of their past hurts. Many fall into cycles of projection where they are taking their inner roughness and emitting it out into the world. Deep healing and emotional maturity begin when you turn your attention inward. The ability to see yourself as you move through the ups and downs of life, without running away or suppressing your feelings, enhances your understanding…”
Yung Pueblo
“We struggle with, agonize over and bluster heroically about the great questions of life when the answers to most of these lie hidden in our attitude toward the thousand minor details of each day.”
Robert Grudin, Time And The Art Of Living (Page 164)
“The Stoics remind us that everything has its compensation…if we choose to see it, if we choose to welcome it. The challenges we face as parents become our greatest teachers and guides. You’ll have moments at the dialysis center that years from now, you wouldn’t trade for anything. You’ll develop patience and resilience that you could have otherwise never imagined—and they will too. You’ll learn how to advocate for yourself and for them. You’ll come face to face with this thing called acceptance. You will understand what it means to love, to really love unconditionally.”
Ryan Holiday
“Next time you’re struggling with something, try saying to yourself, I choose to live in easy world where everything is easy. How might that change your approach? Would it help you to let go of some of the stress and pressure? It’s worth caveating, of course, that your problems are unlikely to magically disappear by just asking yourself this question. But like me, I wonder if you might find that it helps you let go, just a little bit, of the unnecessary extra angst, stress and suffering, we add on top of whatever ‘problem’ we need to solve.”
Ali Abdaal
“Whenever you participate in creating beauty, it is there; whenever you stop creating, it is not. Beauty is a creation; so is ugliness. Happiness is a creation; so is misery. You get only that which you create, and you never get anything else. That is the whole philosophy of karma: You get only that which you do. Life is just a blank canvas—you can paint a beautiful scene, a landscape, or you can paint black ghosts and dangerous people. It’s up to you. You can make a beautiful dream or a nightmare. Once this is understood, things are very simple. You are the master; it is your responsibility.”
Osho, Everyday Osho (Page 349)
“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
“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)
“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