Posts tagged quotes

All the art of living lies in a fine mingling of letting go and holding on.
Henry Ellis

“My heart is a traitor,” the boy said to the alchemist, when they had paused to rest their horses. “It doesn’t want me to go on.”

“That makes sense,” the alchemist answered. “Naturally it’s afraid that, in pursuing your dream, you might lose everything you’ve won.”

“Well then, why should I listen to my heart?”

“Because you will never again be able to keep it quiet. Even if you pretend not to have heard what it tells you, it will always be there inside you, repeating to you what you’re thinking about life and about the world.”

Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist.

In 2010, my heart was telling me that it wasn’t right. But it only told me part of the truth. It didn’t tell me that things haven’t been right for a very long time. If I had even listened to that mustard seed of truth, things might have been different today. Had I the courage to lean into the discomfort that was coming through from the past beyond even then, I really might not be where I am today, struggling.

Emily said that I’d taken a wrong turn, but that somehow this wrong turn was something that I had to take. I don’t know how good a gypsy she is but the cards all seem to say the same thing. And my heart, my heart is still a traitor. It’s still telling me things that my head refuses to agree to.

He was still too young to know that the heart’s memory eliminates the bad and magnifies the good, and that thanks to this artifice we manage to endure the burden of the past.

Gabriel García Márquez, Love In The Time Of Cholera

I never did finish the book. I left it in London. Looking through some of my photos of New York, I was reminded of this passage in the book. Was I happy then? Yes without a doubt. Did my world crash? Of course it did. But I was happy again. And even though right this moment, it seems as if the dawn will never arrive, I think it might. I just don’t really know when yet.

Some of us think holding on makes us strong; but sometimes it is letting go.
Hermann Hesse

Children learn what they live

If children live with criticism, they learn to condemn.
If children live with hostility, they learn to fight.
If children live with fear, they learn to be apprehensive.
If children live with pity, they learn to feel sorry for themselves.
If children live with ridicule, they learn to feel shy.
If children live with jealousy, they learn to feel envy.
If children live with shame, they learn to feel guilty.

If children live with encouragement, they learn confidence.
If children live with tolerance, they learn patience.
If children live with praise, they learn appreciation.
If children live with acceptance, they learn to love.
If children live with approval, they learn to like themselves.
If children live with recognition, they learn it is good to have a goal.
If children live with sharing, they learn generosity.
If children live with honesty, they learn truthfulness.
If children live with fairness, they learn justice.
If children live with kindness and consideration, they learn respect.
If children live with security, they learn to have faith in themselves and in those about them.
If children live with friendliness, they learn the world is a nice place in which to live.

- Dorothy Law Nolte, Ph.D.

I saw this on a friend’s new baby blog and it struck a chord in me. In Brene Brown’s video on the power of vulnerability, she said “Our job is to say… You’re imperfect and you’re wired for struggle. But you are worthy of love and belonging.” This is my biggest struggle and I am constantly searching for [my mother’s] approval and this shows in other areas of my life. I don’t really know what the purpose of this post is for except that I wanted to remember this for the one day where I’ll have kids of my own.

Some people want it to happen, some wish it would happen, others make it happen. ~ Michael Jordan
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