“To live is to deal with challenges and setbacks. No one is immune to the bullshit life flings our way; but our actions can make that bullshit better or worse. If you look back at your life, the biggest lessons you learned didn’t come from a Tumblr quote or celebrity PSA; they came from harsh reality checks when the shit hit the fan. That process isn’t going to get any more enjoyable as you grow, but if you anticipate the learning, then the moments you have in life end up being that much more enriched.” ~ Humble the Poet, Things No One Else Can Teach Us (Page 84)
“You are only as mentally tough as your life demands you to be. An easy life fashions a mind that can only handle ease. A challenging life builds a mind that can handle challenge. Like a muscle that atrophies without use, mental strength fades unless it is tested. When life doesn’t challenge you, challenge yourself.” ~ James Clear, Blog
Martin Luther King Jr. Quote on The Ultimate Measure Of A Man
“The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.”
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Beyond the Quote (18/365)
It’s easy to be a good person when everything in life is good. When everything in the house is working beautifully and you can sit on the couch and watch your favorite TV show without interruption? When you go out to dinner and your table is beautifully set, the service is impeccable, and the food is amazing? When you go to work and you get along with everyone, you feel like you’re producing your best work, and your boss is thrilled?
Read More »Martin Luther King Jr. Quote on The Ultimate Measure Of A ManSwami Sivananda Quote on Meeting Life’s Challenges Vigorously (Not Backing Down)
“Self-acceptance comes from meeting life’s challenges vigorously. Don’t numb yourself to your trials and difficulties, nor build mental walls to exclude pain from your life. You will find peace not by trying to escape your problems, but by confronting them courageously. You will find peace not in denial, but in victory.”
Swami Sivananda
Beyond the Quote (11/365)
In fact, the more you hide from your life challenges and fears, the more they will grow and the more you will shrink. It’s not a single negative, it’s a double negative. If you’ve ever felt your mind take something fearful or challenging from a level 1 intensity to a level 1000 intensity, just from letting it linger in your mind, then you know what I’m talking about. And if you’ve ever let the muscles of your body go without the challenge and difficulty of exercise, then you know what it feels like to shrink. The muscles of the mind—the mental capacity to show courage and face fear—are muscles that none-the-less need to be exercised to grow.
Read More »Swami Sivananda Quote on Meeting Life’s Challenges Vigorously (Not Backing Down)“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)
“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