Today I want to share nine inspiring quotes that changed my life. I’ve listed them below along with supplementary lessons I’ve learned about each one over the years. I hope they inspire you just as they have inspired me.
1. Intuition
“At times you have to leave the city of your comfort and go into the wilderness of your intuition. What you’ll discover will be wonderful. What you’ll discover is yourself.” -Alan Alda
Your intuition is a gift. It is your third eye – a way of seeing with your soul. Pay attention to what it shows you. More often than you realize, you have the answers you seek already inside you. Your unconscious mind is the greatest source of your genius; you just have to pay attention.
Trusting your intuition is trusting your true self, and the more you trust your true self, the more control you have of making your goals and dreams come true.
2. Responsibility
“In the long run, we shape our lives, and we shape ourselves. The process never ends until we die. And the choices we make are ultimately our own responsibility.” -Eleanor Roosevelt
Don’t blame your parents, your friends, your teachers, your boss, or anyone else. Blame yourself and then do something about it. If something isn’t right and needs to change in your life, you’re the only one who can make that change.
The trajectory of your life is directly proportional to the strength of your choices. To say you have no choice is to relieve yourself of all the responsibility and control you have over your life, which is another way of saying, “I don’t care. I give up.”
3. Expectation
“Blessed is he who expects nothing, for he shall never be disappointed.” -Alexander Pope
As you get older you will find that life isn’t necessarily any easier or harder than you thought it was going to be; it’s just that the easy and the hard aren’t exactly the way you had anticipated, and don’t always occur when you expect them to. This isn’t a bad thing; it makes life interesting. With a positive attitude you will always be pleasantly surprised.
When you stop expecting things to be a certain way, you can appreciate them for what they are. Ultimately you will realize that life’s greatest gifts are rarely wrapped the way you expected.
4. Small Steps
“Do your little bit of good where you are; it’s those little bits of good put together that overwhelm the world.” -Desmond Tutu
All the skills and understanding necessary for achievement will not be fully available to you when you first start a new endeavor. But once you start, you will build the necessary skills and understanding as you need them.
Do not overwhelm yourself by thinking about the entire project. Instead, focus on the one particular action step you can take right now. Give your best to the task at hand. Build what you can with what you have, and as you acquire additional resources, build upon what you have already built.
5. Questions vs. Answers
“Judge a man by his questions rather than by his answers.” -Voltaire
Life is filled with unanswered questions, but it is the courage to ask enough of the right ones that ultimately leads you to an understanding of yourself and your purpose.
You can spend your life wallowing in sorrow by asking negative questions like, “Why me?” Or you can be grateful that you survived – that you’re still strong enough to breathe, walk and think for yourself – and then ask, “Where do I want to go next?”
6. Focus
“Whenever you want to achieve something, keep your eyes open, concentrate and make sure you know exactly what it is you want. No one can hit their target with their eyes closed.” -Paulo Coelho
Raindrops falling gently over a wide, sprawling area will always yield to the obstructions present in the landscape. Yet when these raindrops are concentrated into the mighty force of a river, they have the power to cut through nearly any obstruction imaginable.
In the same way, when your thoughts, feelings and actions are concentrated on a clear and consistent purpose, nothing can hold you back. The roadblocks standing in your way are no match for your focused, unwavering purpose. Give your life a decided advantage over all the obstacles you encounter by living each moment in the service of a meaningful purpose.
7. Relationships
“Indifference and neglect often do much more damage than outright dislike.” -J.K. Rowling
When it comes to relationships, be careful not to continuously doubt the positives and ignore the negatives. You likely do this more often than you think. For instance, you will say to your partner dozens of times: Do you really love me? Are you sure? And ask similar questions that doubt the existence of their love. But you will rarely ask: Does this upset you? Are you sure? And similar questions that have the potential to resolve conflict before it starts.
This imbalance creates tension on both sides of the equation. The positive things become more burdensome while the negatives fester in the background, unresolved. Bottom line: Have faith in the positives as you work on turning the negatives around.
8. Humility
“On the highest throne in the world, we still sit only on our own bottom.” -Michel de Montaigne
If you become impressed with your own importance, you will cease to be impressive regardless of how successful you are. Anyone who must announce that they are great rarely is.
True greatness and admiration is earned when you spend your time listening and learning rather than boasting and preening. Let go of the need to be better than anyone else. Humility is a virtue that will carry you far. When you free yourself from the crushing demands of your ego, you free yourself to be your very best.
9. Life Experience
“Good judgment comes from experience, and experience comes from bad judgment.” -Rita Mae Brown
Experience is what you get when your plans don’t go as planned, and experience is the most valuable commodity you own – it builds your strength.
You have the power to turn your wounds and worries into wisdom; you just have to do something about them. You have to accept what has happened and use what you’ve learned to step forward. Everything you’ve experienced has given you the upper hand for dealing with everything you have yet to experience. Realize this and set yourself free.
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