“Like weeding a garden, dealing with obstacles is an ongoing aspect of meditation. Working with these challenges on the cushion is another way we build confidence and courage to go further. We can be grateful for obstacles, because they push us forward in our practice. After a while it is even possible to feel a spark of delight when we see an obstacle coming up, because we know it’s an opportunity to keep sharpening our minds. The more obstacles we face, the more confidence we feel to deal with them.” ~ Sakyong Mipham, Turning the Mind Into An Ally (Page 86)
Quotes about Challenges
“Even if it were possible to permanently banish everything threatening—everything dangerous (and, therefore, everything challenging and interesting)—that would mean only that another danger would emerge: that of permanent human infantilism and absolute uselessness. How could the nature of man ever reach its full potential without challenge and danger? How dull and contemptible would we become if there was no longer reason to pay attention?” ~ Jordan Peterson, via 12 Rules for Life (Page 47)
28 Beautiful Claire Wineland Quotes on Life, Death, and Living with Challenges
Excerpt: While Cystic Fibrosis ultimately took her life, Claire never let CF stop her from living her best life. Read our 28 Claire Wineland Quotes on life, death, and living with challenges.
Read More »28 Beautiful Claire Wineland Quotes on Life, Death, and Living with Challenges
“I challenge you all to look at your ‘problems,’ and stare them in the eye and say, ‘Listen, this is how it’s going down… I’m not going to try and overcome you anymore or try and face you anymore—you are going to become my friend. And I am going to learn from you as much as I possibly can.” ~ Claire Wineland (14), Positively Positive
“I’m sure you have challenges, things that you wish you could overcome, or things that you could get over… Stop. Stop trying to get over it. Because if we’re trying to get over all of the problems in our lives then our entire lifetimes are just going to be trying to get over problems—that’s all there is going to be. And that is not a life to be proud of. Instead, find those challenges in your life and use them! Use them and turn them into an opportunity.” ~ Claire Wineland (15), TEDxMalibu
“I’m not stuck in this belief that challenges are given to us to hold us back. I am lifted up by the belief that challenges are here to help us move forwards—and that is the difference. That is the only difference between people who are living a passionate, proud life and people who feel sad—or people who get older and feel like they don’t know what they’re doing anymore.” ~ Claire Wineland (15), TEDxMalibu
“If I have learned anything from living and dying, and from being sick, it’s that we all have something really incredible to share. And that maybe for once we should stop trying to get over our problems, trying to get rid of our problems, trying to jump through hoops to evade our problems, and maybe we should start using them because they are one of the biggest gifts you will ever be given.” ~ Claire Wineland, Worldz 2017
“A lot of motivational speakers will tell you that the point of life is to be happy… I think that’s bullsh*t. I think that happiness is an emotion—it’s some dopamine firing in your brain and it’s great and it’s awesome when it happens. But we can’t chase happiness—we have to chase deep satisfaction and pride—and there’s a difference. And the way that we do that is not by running away from our pain or sickness, it’s by being sick and saying, ‘So what?'” ~ Claire Wineland (19), Zappos All Hands Meeting
“You must see every setback, failure, or hardship as a trial along the way, as seeds that are being planted for further cultivation, if you know how to grow them. No moment is wasted if you pay attention and learn the lessons contained in every experience. By constantly applying yourself to the subject that suits your inclinations and attacking it from many different angles, you are simply enriching the ground for these seeds to take root. You may not see this process in the present, but it is happening. Never losing your connection to your Life’s Task, you will unconsciously hit upon the right choices in your life. Over time, mastery will come to you.” ~ Robert Greene, Mastery
“In essence, when you practice and develop any skill you transform yourself in the process. You reveal to yourself new capabilities that were previously latent, that are exposed as you progress. You develop emotionally. Your sense of pleasure becomes redefined. What offers immediate pleasure comes to seem like a distraction, an empty entertainment to help pass the time. Real pleasure comes from overcoming challenges, feeling confidence in your abilities, gaining fluency in skills, and experiencing the power this brings. You develop patience. Boredom no longer signals the need for distraction, but rather the need for new challenges to conquer.” ~ Robert Greene, Mastery
The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck [Book]
Book Overview: In this generation-defining self-help guide, a superstar blogger cuts through the crap to show us how to stop trying to be “positive” all the time so that we can truly become better, happier people. For decades, we’ve been told that positive thinking is the key to a happy, rich life. “F**k positivity,” Mark Manson says. “Let’s be honest, shit is f**ked and we have to live with it.” In his wildly popular Internet blog, Manson doesn’t sugarcoat or equivocate. He tells it like it is—a dose of raw, refreshing, honest truth that is sorely lacking today. The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F**k is his antidote to the coddling, let’s-all-feel-good mindset that has infected modern society and spoiled a generation, rewarding them with gold medals just for showing up.
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Great on Kindle. Great Experience. Great Value. The Kindle edition of this book comes highly recommended on Amazon.
Post(s) Inspired by this Book:
- 23 No Bullsh*t Mark Manson Quotes from The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck
- Mark Manson Quote on Problems and How A Problem-Free Life Should Never Be The Goal (Beyond the Quote 274/365)
- Mark Manson Quote on How Being Desperate For Something Doesn’t Help You Get It (Beyond the Quote 177/365)
- Mark Manson Quote on Experiences and How To Find The Ideal Balance Between Breadth and Depth (Beyond the Quote 162/365)
- The Story of Buddha and How Happiness is Not the Absence of Suffering
“Everything worthwhile in life is won through surmounting the associated negative experience. Any attempt to escape the negative, to avoid it or quash it or silence it, only backfires. The avoidance of suffering is a form of suffering. The avoidance of struggle is a struggle. The denial of failure is a failure. Hiding what is shameful is itself a form of shame.” ~ Mark Mason, The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck
Do not try to escape – try to embrace.
Picture Quote Text:
“I am not looking to escape my darkness, I am learning to love myself there.” ~ Rune Lazuli