Life quotes for Women

I love to see a young girl go out and grab the world by the lapels. Life’s a bitch. You've got to go out and kick ass.

— Maya Angelou

We all look up to strong, independent women. But how do we become one ourselves?

Its easy to give in to feelings of self-doubt and back down from challenges. But that’s certainly not what being a strong woman is all about.

Here are some inspirational quotes for women by some of the strongest women in history that will inspire and empower you.

100+ Inspirational Quotes for Women

“When we do the best we can, we never know what miracle is wrought in our life, or in the life of another.” - Helen Keller

“Any woman who understands the problems of running a home will be nearer to understanding the problems of running a country.” - Margaret Thatcher

“If you obey all the rules, you miss all the fun.” - Katharine Hepburn

“Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away.” - Maya Angelou

“Being an intellectual creates a lot of questions and no answers. You can fill your life up with ideas and still go home lonely. All you really have that really matters are feelings. That’s what music is to me.” - Janis Joplin

“Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one’s courage.” - Anais Nin

“If you don’t like being a doormat then get off the floor.” - Al Anon

“Whatever you do, be different – that was the advice my mother gave me, and I can’t think of better advice for an entrepreneur. If you’re different, you will stand out.” - Anita Roddick

“A lot of people are afraid to say what they want. That’s why they don’t get what they want.” - Madonna

“A woman is like a tea bag – you never know how strong she is until she gets in hot water.” – Eleanor Roosevelt (Photo credit: U.S. Federal Government)

“A woman is like a tea bag – you never know how strong she is until she gets in hot water.” - Eleanor Roosevelt

“I know God will not give me anything I can’t handle. I just wish that He didn’t trust me so much.” - Mother Teresa

“Destiny is a name often given in retrospect to choices that had dramatic consequences.” - J. K. Rowling

“I could not, at any age, be content to take my place by the fireside and simply look on. Life was meant to be lived. Curiosity must be kept alive. One must never, for whatever reason, turn his back on life.” - Eleanor Roosevelt

“The day will come when men will recognize woman as his peer, not only at the fireside, but in councils of the nation. Then, and not until then, will there be the perfect comradeship, the ideal union between the sexes that shall result in the highest development of the race.” - Susan B. Anthony

“We ask justice, we ask equality, we ask that all the civil and political rights that belong to citizens of the United States, be guaranteed to us and our daughters forever.” - Susan B. Anthony

“I’ve come to believe that each of us has a personal calling that’s as unique as a fingerprint – and that the best way to succeed is to discover what you love and then find a way to offer it to others in the form of service, working hard, and also allowing the energy of the universe to lead you.” - Oprah Winfrey

“It was we, the people; not we, the white male citizens; nor yet we, the male citizens; but we, the whole people, who formed the Union…. Men, their rights and nothing more; women, their rights and nothing less.” - Susan B. Anthony

“A strong woman understands that the gifts such as logic, decisiveness, and strength are just as feminine as intuition and emotional connection. She values and uses all of her gifts.” - Nancy Rathburn

“A woman is the full circle. Within her is the power to create, nurture and transform.” - Diane Mariechild

“I want to do is because I want to do it. Women must try to do things as men have tried. When they fail, their failure must be but a challenge to others.” - Amelia Earhart

“Just watch, all of you men. I’ll show you what a woman can do…I’ll go across the country, I’ll race to the Moon… I’ll never look back.” - Edna Gardner Whyte

“The best protection any woman can have … is courage.” - Elizabeth Cady Stanton

“We must believe that we are gifted for something, and that this thing, at whatever cost, must be attained.” – Marie Curie (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

“We must believe that we are gifted for something, and that this thing, at whatever cost, must be attained.” - Marie Curie

“Success breeds confidence.” - Beryl Markham

“Because I am a woman, I must make unusual efforts to succeed. If I fail, no one will say, “She doesn’t have what it takes.” They will say, “Women don’t have what it takes.” - Clare Boothe Luce

“The way in which we think of ourselves has everything to do with how our world see us and how we see ourselves successfully acknowledged by the world.” - Arlene Rankin

“Love is anterior to Life, Posterior to Death, Initial of Creation, and The Exponent of Earth.” - Emily Dickinson

“The question isn’t who’s going to let me; it’s who is going to stop me.” - Ayn Rand

“Most people who meet my wife quickly conclude that she is remarkable. They are right about this. She is smart, funny and thoroughly charming. Often, after hearing her speak at some function or working with her on a project, people will approach me and say something to the effect of, you know, I think the world of you, Barack, but your wife, wow!” - Barack Obama, The Audacity of Hope

“People think at the end of the day that a man is the only answer [to fulfillment]. Actually a job is better for me.” - Princess Diana

“If you look at what you have in life, you’ll always have more. If you look at what you don’t have in life, you’ll never have enough.” - Oprah Winfrey

“Whatever women do they must do twice as well as men to be thought half as good. Luckily, this is not difficult.” - Charlotte Whitton

“The most common way people give up their power is by thinking they don’t have any.” - Alice Walker

“One likes people much better when they’re battered down by a prodigious siege of misfortune than when they triumph.” - Virginia Woolf

“You may encounter many defeats, but you must not be defeated. In fact, it may be necessary to encounter the defeats, so you can know who you are, what you can rise from, how you can still come out of it.” – Maya Angelou (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

“You may encounter many defeats, but you must not be defeated. In fact, it may be necessary to encounter the defeats, so you can know who you are, what you can rise from, how you can still come out of it.” - Maya Angelou

“Women are never stronger than when they arm themselves with their weaknesses.” - Madame Marie du Deffand

“When one door of happiness closes, another opens; but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one which has been opened for us.” - Helen Keller

“When you lose a couple of times, it makes you realize how difficult it is to win.” - Steffi Graf

“You take your life in your own hands, and what happens? A terrible thing, no one to blame.” - Erica Jong

“You move totally away from reality when you believe that there is a legitimate reason to suffer.” - Byron Katie

“Courage is like a muscle. We strengthen it by use.” - Ruth Gordon

“Always go with the choice that scares you the most, because that’s the one that is going to require the most from you.” - Caroline Myss

“Stop wearing your wishbone where your backbone ought to be.” - Elizabeth Gilbert

“One of the most courageous things you can do is identify yourself, know who you are, what you believe in and where you want to go.” - Sheila Murray Bethel

“It takes a great deal of courage to stand up to your enemies, but even more to stand up to your friends.” - J. K. Rowling

“Taking joy in living is a woman’s best cosmetic.” - Rosalind Russell

“Woman must not accept; she must challenge.She must not be awed by that which has been built up around her; she must reverence that woman in her which struggles for expression.” - Margaret Sanger

“A woman with a voice is by definition a strong woman. But the search to find that voice can be remarkably difficult.” – Melinda Gates

“You can have unbelievable intelligence, you can have connections, you can have opportunities fall out of the sky. But in the end, hard work is the true, enduring characteristic of successful people.” - Marsha Evans

“A woman with a voice is by definition a strong woman. But the search to find that voice can be remarkably difficult.” - Melinda Gates

“A man’s got to do what a man’s got to do. A woman must do what he can’t.” - Rhonda Hansome

“We still live in a world in which a significant fraction of people, including women, believe that a woman belongs and wants to belong exclusively in the home.” - Rosalyn Sussman

“You have to have confidence in your ability, and then be tough enough to follow through.” - Rosalynn Carter

“One is not born, but rather becomes, a woman.” - Simone de Beauvoir

"A liberated woman is one who has sex before marriage and a job after." 
--Gloria Steinem

"I am glad that I paid so little attention to good advice; had I abided by it I might have been saved from some of my most valuable mistakes." --Edna St. Vincent Millay

“Good sex is like good Bridge. If you don't have a good partner, you'd better have a good hand.” --Mae West

"I have learned not to worry about love; but to honor its coming with all my heart." 
--Alice Walker

“The desire to get married is a basic and primal instinct in women. It's followed by another basic and primal instinct: the desire to be single again.”  --Nora Ephron

"I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”  --Maya Angelou

"No woman gets an orgasm from shining the kitchen floor."  --Betty Freidan

“Love is like quicksilver in the hand. Leave the fingers open and it stays. Clutch it and it darts away.”  --Dorothy Parker

"I do not like the man who squanders life for fame; give me the man who living makes a name."  --Emily Dickinson

"If you can’t handle me at my worst, then you sure as hell don’t deserve me at my best." 
--Marilyn Monroe

"For women the best aphrodisiacs are words. The G-spot is in the ears. He who looks for it below there is wasting his time.'  --Isabel Allende

“Above all, be the heroine of your own life, not the victim.”  --Nora Ephron

There are only three things to be done with a woman. You can love her, suffer for her, or turn her into literature.  --Henry Miller

Being a woman is a terribly difficult task, since it consists principally in dealing with men. --Joseph Conrad

I want to do it because I want to do it. Women must try to do things as men have tried. When they fail, their failure must be but a challenge to others. --Amelia Earhart

Women kill me. They really do. I don’t mean I’m oversexed or anything like that — although I am quite sexy. I just like them, I mean. They’re always leaving their goddam bags out in the middle of the aisle. --J.D. Salinger

And yet women — good women — frightened me because they eventually wanted your soul, and what was left of mine, I wanted to keep. --Charles Bukowski

As usual, there is a great woman behind every idiot. --John Lennon

Why are women… so much more interesting to men than men are to women? --Virginia Woolf

An elegant woman is a woman who despises you and has no hair under her arms. --Salvador Dalí

Be not ashamed women, … You are the gates of the body, and you are the gates of the soul. --Walt Whitman

The trouble with some women is that they get all excited about nothing — and then marry him. --Cher

The only way a woman can ever reform a man is by boring him so completely that he loses all possible interest in life. --Oscar Wilde

I like intelligent women. When you go out, it shouldn’t be a staring contest. --Frank Sinatra

Women must tell men always that they are the strong ones. They are the big, the strong, the wonderful. In truth, women are the strong ones. It is just my opinion, I am not a professor. --Coco Chanel

I do not wish women to have power over men; but over themselves. --Mary Wollstonecraft

Women think with their whole bodies and they see things as a whole more than men do. --Dorothy Day

Men are by nature merely indifferent to one another; but women are by nature enemies. --Arthur Schopenhauer

In love, women are professionals, men are amateurs. Francois Truffaut
Why is it men are permitted to be obsessed about their work, but women are only permitted to be obsessed about men? --Barbra Streisand

Women are frightening. If you get to 41 as a man, you’re quite battle-scarred. --Hugh Grant

The appalling thing is the degree of charity women are capable of. You see it all the time… love lavished on absolute fools. Love’s a charity ward, you know. --Lawrence Durrell

Women are made to be loved, not understood. --Oscar Wilde

I don’t hate women — they just sometimes make me mad. --Eminem

If women didn’t exist, all the money in the world would have no meaning. --Aristotle Onassis

Women in particular need to keep an eye on their physical and mental health, because if we’re scurrying to and from appointments and errands, we don’t have a lot of time to take care of ourselves. We need to do a better job of putting ourselves higher on our own “to do” list. --Michelle Obama

All the reasonings of men are not worth one sentiment of women. --Voltaire

If women ran the world we wouldn’t have wars, just intense negotiations every 28 days. --Robin Williams

There are only two types of women — goddesses and doormats. Pablo Picasso
I am no bird; and no net ensnares me: I am a free human being with an independent will. --Charlotte Brontë

It is past time for women to take their rightful place, side by side with men, in the rooms where the fates of peoples, where their children’s and grandchildren’s fates, are decided. --Hillary Clinton

The thing women have yet to learn is nobody gives you power. You just take it. --Roseanne Barr 

50 Quotes That Will Free Your Mind

We are our thoughts. We cannot change anything
if we cannot change our thinking.

You have a train of thought on which you ride when you are alone and quietly thinking.  The self-worth you feel, as well as the happiness your life brings, depends upon the direction in which this train is moving, the baggage it carries and the emotional space through which it travels.  Between life’s stimulus and your reaction is where this space exists; within it is your power to choose how you react, and in your reaction lies your growth, freedom and happiness.

If you truly want to change your life, you must first change your mind.  You must free it from the restrictive thinking that holds you back.

Here are 50 thought-provoking quotes that will help tweak your thinking and set your mind free.

1. You are only destined to become one person – the person you decide to be.
2. Do good and feel good.  Do bad and feel bad.  It’s that simple.
3. You are what you do today, not what you say you’ll do tomorrow.
4. We all make choices, but in the end our choices make us.
5. Ultimately, it’s not what you do every once in a while; it’s what you dedicate yourself to on a regular basis that makes the difference.
6. Stay true to yourself.  Never be ashamed of doing what feels right.  Decide what you think is right and stick to it.
7. If you don’t stand for anything, you will remain forever on your knees.
8. No amount of money will make you happy if you aren’t happy with yourself.
9. You know you’ve made the right decision when there is peace in your heart.
10. Don’t worry if your goals seem crazy to other people; oftentimes the crazy ideas are the ones that have the greatest impact.
11. If you’re thinking like everyone else, then you aren’t thinking.
12. Control your own destiny or someone else will try for you.
13. Sometimes standing up to your friends can be just as difficult as standing up to your enemies.
14. The unhappiest people in this world are the people who care the most about what everyone else thinks.
15. When people undermine your dreams, predict your doom, or criticize you, remember, they’re telling you their story, not yours.
16. There is a huge amount of freedom that comes to you when you take nothing personally.
17. No one in the world was ever you before, with your particular gifts and abilities and possibilities.
18. Your greatest task isn’t to find love, but to discover and destroy all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it.
19. A loving, happy person lives in a loving, happy world.  A hateful, miserable person lives in a hateful, miserable world.  The world around you reflects YOU.
20. Worry gives small things a big shadow.
21. Focus your conscious mind on things you desire not things you fear.  Doing so brings dreams to life.
22. It’s not the mistakes and failures you have to worry about, it’s the opportunities you miss when you don’t even try that hurt the most.
23. It is better to offer no excuse than a bad one over and over again.
24. To get something you’ve never had, you must do something you’ve never done.
25. The harder thing to do and the right thing to do are usually the same thing.
26. Our problems are really our blessings if we use them to grow stronger.
27. Anyone can run away; it’s super easy.  Facing problems and working through them, that’s what makes you strong.
28. When you have two good options, always go with the one that scares you the most, because that’s the one that’s going to help you grow.
29. Courage is being scared to death, and then taking the next step anyway.
30. Sometimes our greatest insight comes from our failure, not from our accomplishments.
31. You need to screw up to learn.  You need to experience it all to create greatness.
32. Just because you don’t understand something now doesn’t mean the explanation doesn’t exist.
33. Not knowing everything about your future is a good thing.
34. Don’t worry about what you can’t control and you may liberate yourself.
35. People of average ability often achieve outstanding success because they don’t know when to quit.  Most people succeed simply because they are determined to.
36. Temporary happiness isn’t worth long-term pain.
37. Patience can be bitter, but the seeds you plant now will bear sweet fruit.
38. The less you expect, the more pleasant life gets.
39. The more you are in a state of gratitude, the more you will attract things to be grateful for.
40. The things you take for granted, someone else is praying for.
41. It usually isn’t what you have or where you are or what you’re doing that makes you happy.  It’s how you think about it all.
42. Do not dwell so much on creating your perfect life that you forget to live.
43. You are not in competition with anybody except yourself; plan to outdo your past not other people.
44. To admit that you were wrong is to declare that you are wiser now than you were before.
45. Humans see what they want to see.
46. If you spend too much time judging yourself, you won’t have any time to love yourself or anyone else.
47. At the end of the day, you can either focus on what’s tearing you apart or what’s holding you together.
48. Look through the front windshield and not the rearview mirror.
49. You don’t get to choose how you are going to die, or when.  But you can choose how you are going to live, right now.
50. Be done with regrets; they are an excuse for people who have failed.  You still have a chance.

Your turn…

What’s one quote or personal thought that has helped free your mind from negativity and restrictive thinking?  Please share it with us by leaving a reply below.

9 Ways to Find Peace of Mind in Tough Times

Over the past decade Marc and I have dealt with several personal hardships of varying degrees, including the sudden death of a sibling, the loss of a best friend to illness, and an unexpected, bread winning employment layoff.

These experiences were brutal.  Each of them, unsurprisingly, knocked us down and off course for a period of time.  But when our time of mourning was over in each individual circumstance, we pressed forward, stronger, and with a greater understanding and respect for life.

Here are some vital lessons we learned – ways to maintain peace of mind in tough times:

1.  Learn to trust yourself.

“It isn’t as bad as you sometimes think it is.  As you heal and grow, it will all work out.  Relax and trust yourself.”

Repeat that in your mind every morning.  Because the truth is, it all works out in the end.  Put your full trust in yourself by following your intuition and doing your best, and then move forward one step at a time with faith and confidence in the future.  Life will not forsake you.  Love, persistence and hard work combined rarely lead a person astray in the long run.

If you have faith in your abilities, if you stay true to the path that feels right, if you channel your passion into action, you will ultimately achieve a breakthrough.  In other words, as soon as you trust yourself you will know how to heal and grow.

2.  Focus on what you’re learning.

Mistakes and setbacks are simply a form of practice.

If the road is easy and free of bumps, you’re likely going the wrong way.  The bumps in the road teach you what you need to know to progress down a paththat is all your own.  Sometimes things have to go wrong in order to go right.  Sometimes you need to change a flat tire or two before you can move on.

Bottom line:  Your journey isn’t supposed to be easy, it’s supposed to be worth it.  To never struggle is to never grow.  There is no perfectly smooth road to anyplace worth going.

3.  Ease your expectations.

Life is under no obligation to give you exactly what you expect.  Whatever it is you’re seeking will rarely ever come in the form you’re expecting.  Don’t miss the silver lining because you were expecting gold.

You must see and accept things as they are instead of as you hoped, wished, or expected them to be.  Just because it didn’t turn out like you had envisioned, doesn’t mean it isn’t exactly what you need to get to where you ultimately want to go.

4.  Open up to someone you trust.

You aren’t alone; let someone special in when you’re in a dark place.  You know who this person is.  Don’t expect them to solve your problems; just allow them to face your problems with you.  Give them permission to stand beside you.  They won’t necessarily be able to pull you out of the dark place you’re in, but the light that spills in when they enter will at least show you which way the door is.

Above all, the important thing to remember is that you are not alone.  No matter how bizarre or embarrassed or pathetic you feel about our own situation, there is someone in your life who has dealt with similar emotions and who wants to help you.  When you hear yourself say, “I am alone,” it’s just your insecurities trying to sell you a lie.

5.  Use hope to drive positive action.

Only in the dark can you see the stars.  The stars are hope.  Look for them.

The very least you can do in your life is figure out what you hope for.  And the most you can do is live inside that hope as you work for what you want.  Do not admire what you hope for from a distance, but live right in it.  Get deeply involved with the thoughts and activities that keep your hope alive and your intention possible.

No, hope alone will not save you from despair.  Hope empowers you to strive and grow even when your circumstances are in shambles.  The road that is built with hope is more pleasant than the road built in despair, even though they both may seem to lead you to the same place in the short-term.  But it is the positive growth you attain on your way to this temporary place that will benefit your final destination.

It’s all about balance – accepting reality without giving up on what needs to be done to reach your desired destination in the long run.

6.  Move TOWARDS something instead of AWAY.

“Don’t think about eating that chocolate cookie!”  What are you thinking about now?  Eating that chocolate cookie, right?  When you concentrate on not thinking about something, you end up thinking about it.

The same philosophy holds true when it comes to freeing your mind from a negative past.  By persistently trying to move away from what you don’t want, you are forced to think about it so much that you end up carrying it’s weight along with you.  But if you instead choose to focus your energy on moving toward something you do want, you naturally leave the negative weight behind as you progress forward.

Bottom line:  Instead of concentrating on eliminating the negative, concentrate on creating something positive (that just happens to replace the negative).

7.  Take a few steps back.

Everything seems simpler from a distance.  Sometimes you simply need to distance yourself to see things more clearly.

You are more than whatever is troubling you.  A very real part of you exists beyond your worries, beyond your doubts, independent from the troubles and frustrations of the present moment.  Step back and observe yourself as you experience each moment.  Be present.  Watch yourself as you think, as you take action, as you experience emotions.  Your body may experience pain, and yet that pain is not you.  Your mind may encounter troubles, and yet you are not those troubles.

Think of the most difficult challenge you face right now.  Imagine that it’s not you, but a close friend who is facing this challenge.  What advice would you give her?  If you could step back and, instead of being the subject, look at your situation as an objective observer, would you look at it any differently?  Think of the advice you would give your friend if your friend were in your shoes.  Are you following your own best advice right now?

Don’t allow your current troubles to cloud your thinking.  Take a few steps back and give yourself the benefit of this distance, and then give yourself some great advice.

8.  Give yourself time.

Take all the time you need.  Emotional healing is a process; don’t rush yourself through it.  Don’t let others force you through it either.  Moving on doesn’t take a day; it takes lots of little steps to be able to break free of your broken past and your wounded self.

Take today breath by breath, one step at a time.  Never let trouble from the past make you feel like you have a bad life now.  Just because yesterday was painful doesn’t mean today will be too.  Our wounds are often the openings into the best and most beautiful part of us.  Today you have a choice to explore these parts of yourself.  Give yourself the needed time and permission to explore and heal. 

9.  Look for the beginning in every ending.

A wise man once said, “Every new beginning comes from some other beginning’s end.”  Today is a new beginning; treat it that way.  Stop thinking about what might have been and starting looking at what can be.

Say to yourself: “Dear Past, thank you for all the life lessons you have taught me.  Dear Future, I am ready now!”  Because a great beginning always occurs at the exact moment you thought would be the end of everything.

The floor is yours…

What’s gives you peace of mind when times are tough and stressful?  Please leave a comment below and let us know.

10 Things I Love About YOU

YOU are amazing!  You may forget sometimes, but someone always sees the amazing things about you that make you so loveable.

So let me remind you of how truly amazing you are, just because you’re YOU:

1.  Your smile.

I don’t care if your teeth aren’t perfectly straight and bright white.  When you smile, it lights up your eyes with a twinkle of honest delight that gives me a glimpse into the beauty of your soul.  It’s as though you really see me and you’re offering me a little parcel of your heart.

So please remember, you can never change the past nor control the future, but you can change the mood of this moment by touching someone’s heart with your smile, in the same way you have already touched mine.

2.  Your self-respect.

I love the way you accept who you are completely, the good and the bad, and make changes in your life as YOU see fit – not because you think anyone else wants you to be different, but because you know it’s the right thing to do, for YOU.

The way you don’t rely on your significant other, or anyone else, for your happiness and self-worth moves me at my core.  You have taught me that our first and last love is self-love, and that if you can’t love and respect yourself, no one else will be able to either.

3.  Your courage.

You say you’re afraid sometimes, and that the world seems too vast.  You say it can be a struggle just to get out of bed in the morning, to put on your smile and face reality, yet every day you somehow find the strength to carry-on and face life with courage and poise.

Your courage is my encouragement!

I love the way you prove day in and day out that courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the decision that other things are more important than fear.  You take little, conscious steps every day to love those around you, to care for yourself, and to find joy in the smallest moments – all these little steps add up to greatness.

4.  Your passion.

While I see others waiting around for love, you inspire me with the way you happily pursue your lusts.  The way you express yourself and what you hold dear in your heart through your actions and words, and the way you use your whole mind and body to feel and interact with the world around you is truly something to be seen.

You have taught me that it’s not always about loving the struggles in front of you, but loving the ideas, dreams, passions and people behind you and within you.  It gives me great joy to see you ignited with an inner passion for living and pursuing the ideas that move you.

5.  Your creativity.

When you speak, write or create, you act like it’s your job to make mind-blowing, passionate love to whatever idea it is that drives the project you’re working on at the time.

What astounds me is the way you manage to communicate how you feel and who you are in so many wondrous ways, sometimes even without speaking a word.  The way you look at a situation where others are asking, “Why?” and instead ask,  “Why not?”  The way you continually jump from great heights and develop your wings on your way…

All I can say is: “Wow!”

6.  Your positivity.

The way you dwell on the beauty of life…

The way you laugh, even when there’s no pressing reason to do so…

You always turn a negative situation into a positive opportunity.  When you hear negative thoughts, you think about the positive side of things.  When you see a glass with water in it, you aren’t concerned whether it’s half empty or half full; you’re just grateful to have a glass with something in it.

Thank you.  You have made a difference in my life by being so positive.

7.  Your kindness and compassion.

No matter how strong a person is, they have weak points and sometimes all they really need is a listening ear from a compassionate friend.  Thank you for being that friend.

Even when you’ve been busy working hard and dealing with your own issues, somehow when I least expect it, you reach out to help another person who is in need.  You consider their circumstances with love rather than judgment.  You move into the “right here, right now” with an open heart and a willingness to be supportive, unconditionally.

8.  Your unconditional acceptance.

You take people and their situations for what they are, you appreciate them, and you don’t try to label them or change them.

I realize now that that your unconditional acceptance doesn’t mean you’re giving up your freewill to have an opinion – that’s quitting.  It simply means you’re willing to let go of the fantasies of who you think people should be and how you think things are supposed to be, so you can fall in love with who they truly are and how life really is.

9.  Your sense of humor.

You are always able to see the funny side of life through its ups and downs.  You manage to make light of situations that could easily drive a person crazy.  Negative things happen in your life, but somehow you shake them off and still mange to see the humor in it all.  Your laughter and sense of humor is infectious and lifts the mood of those around you, so the rest of us don’t take ourselves so seriously all the time.

Thank you for helping me see the beauty and comedy in the absurdity of life.

10.  Your love and loyalty.

Even though you have felt pain and heartbreak, and although you sometimes try your hardest to hide it, you just can’t stop loving.  It’s who you are on the inside.  Even though you sometimes require alone time for rest and healing, you always return to wanting to share love in your life.

You have helped me understand that relationships are about two people being true to each other even when times are tough, and that when it comes to relationships, remaining faithful is never an option, but a priority.  Prolonged love and loyalty mean the world… and yes… your love and loyalty mean the world to me.

Your turn…

What do you love most about yourself?  What qualities do you love most about your closest friends and family?  Share your thoughts with us by leaving a comment below.