[success]The wisdom of the wise and the experience of the ages is preserved into perpetuity by a nation’s proverbs, fables, folk sayings and quotations. ~ William Feather[/success]
Quotes are invaluable in my world. Some touch my heart and soul and others make me smile; all of them can become an active force in life.
Quotes bring with them another way to view life, and the way we view life and ourselves affects the choices we make, affects the way we play the game of life and the fun we have on the journey. The wisdom of the ages is available to us all and since I’m always in favour of having a few great ideas from which to think, here’s a few that you can use in everyday life.
Never give up
Keep on going, and the chances are that you will stumble on something, perhaps when you are least expecting it. I never heard of anyone ever stumbling on something sitting down. ~ Charles F. Kettering
My late husband used to have a theory that he called Carter’s theory of accidental management. He basically said that most inventions and successes occurred because someone was involved in doing something…often a something that had little or nothing to do with the discovery he made.
So if you find yourself having challenges, or are ready to give up on someone or something, or even yourself. Don’t. Whilst it probably isn’t true that it’s always darkest before dawn, often, in our darkest hour, when we’re about to throw in the towel, or throw up our hands in disgust, a ray of light appears. We ‘accidentally’ come across the answer to our problem or stumble upon an unexpected solution.
I find things come to me in the most unusual ways…and I’m always happy to receive.
See the greatness in everyone
Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great. – Mark Twain
Don’t let anyone tell you that you can’t be, do or have something. Remember everyone speaks from their own limited thinking and beliefs, and let’s face it, we all have enough of our own without taking on other peoples. Acknowledge the greatness that exists in you..as it must, after all you are a spiritual being.
Begin to impress a new belief into your subconscious. Choose a powerful belief about yourself and how capable you are, or perhaps how abundant your life is, and how it’s filled with wonderful opportunities. Five minutes a day on this life affirming practice can make all the difference in your world.
And don’t be a Dolly or Desmond downer, raining on someone else’s dreams. Instead, imagine others as you know they would wish to be…we’re all in this together.
Choose who to be
To get up each morning with the resolve to be happy…is to set our own conditions to the events of each day. To do this is to condition circumstances instead of being conditioned by them. ~ Ralph Waldo Trine
Our whole world is just a giant mirror, reflecting back our thoughts and feelings, our every mood and feeling that we entertain, as events and experiences. I like to decide at the beginning of each day, how I’m going to show up, because I know that every inch of progress I make towards fulfilling my dreams is through the use of my imagination and feelings.
If you want to experience success in life, in love, in spiritual growth, choose a mood that resonates for you and wear it as you would your clothes. Surround yourself in the feeling that you are exactly who you want to be; joyful, creative, inspirational, amazing, brilliant, doesn’t matter: what matters is that you choose to feel great about you.
Give up regrets
When one door closes, another opens; but we often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door that we do not see the one which has opened for us – Alexander Graham Bell.
I did this, when my husband passed away, leaving me a young widow. I never wanted to leave the tunnel of darkness I was in, even though I could see a glimmer of light ahead. Over my shoulder, behind me, was my love, my life and if I stayed in that tunnel a little while longer maybe it would all turn out to be a gigantic mistake.
We all have times when doors bang shut in our faces, sometimes we lose a job, or a friend or a loved one; whatever it is…if we keep moving towards the light, a doorway to a brand new experience will be there. It’s okay to be afraid, to be sad, but don’t stop walking.
How many times have we lived with deep regret only to discover the next new experience is absolutely fabulous. If I’d stayed in that tunnel for much longer I might have missed the opportunity to now be the happiest woman in the Universe.
Learn the art of letting go
We must let go of the life we had planned so as to have the life that is waiting for us – Joseph Campbell.
In order to create the life we love, the life we dream of, we have to be willing to die to the old. It just isn’t possible to enter a new state of consciousness, a new state of mind, and bring all the old things with us. Each state of consciousness contains everything it needs to be replicated in our outer world, and it ‘aint gonna accept stuff from that old state you occupied.
Sadly, or maybe not, we can’t be in two states at the same time; gotta do some choosing. What’s it to be, same old same old, or letting go and moving onwards and upwards?
Letting go can be as simple as just asking yourself the question, am I willing to let this go? Oh and don’t forget to say yes.
Do you have any quotes to live by? And how do they work in your world?
I’d love to hear from you.
Leave a comment and let me know. Be as specific as you can because what you share can truly make a difference to others.
Thank you, as always, for reading, sharing (nudge, nudge) and adding your brilliance to the discussion.
As always…encourage one another.
24 Comments
Mr. Bell’s quote on regrets stood out the most to me. I found that after adopting the ability to let go and move on, instead of regretting, has allowed me to live a much happier life. Future events that would have left me sad and feeling alone for months now bother me for far shorter. I now look at things as opportunities and lessons instead of curses or regrets.
Great perspective Vincent…there’s nothing quite like seeing things with new eyes. Kudos to you. 🙂
Love these quotes! They really resonate for me.
Nice to see you here PragmaticMom and happy those quotes resonate…they actually work too…added bonus. 🙂
The second quote hilarious…can’t stumble sitting down! I love your quotes because they’re unique. I think Julie Cameron was the one who hooked me on quotes with her book The Artists Way. Have a great weekend Elle!
Isn’t that one great Tess. It’s so blooming true, wish I’d written it. 🙂
“Don’t believe everything you think.” Like for instance, one day at work some coworkers went out to lunch without inviting me and I felt bad, only to find out later they had come to invite me to come with them but I was not in my office. So, my thinking had nothing to do with reality.
Welcome Gracie. Isn’t that the truth…we experience an incident, put an interpretation on it and say, voila, this is the truth. As you say, it ‘aint necessarily so. Thanks for this reminder Gracie, we’ve all been there. 🙂
Hey Elle,
I actually just wrote a post of my favorite quotes to remember. I loved these ones above. I think the art of letting go is so important. It is so easy to get attached to how we want things to turn out, but they rarely ever turn out that way. If you can get in the state of mind where you don’t have expectations then contentment usually comes with that. It is very difficult to get to and maintain.
Have an awesome day!
Thanks Sebastian for sharing your perspective. For myself it always comes down to persistence and practice. 🙂
Here’s one of my favorite quotes that really speaks to me:
“And the day came when the wish to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.” Anais Nin
*Love* that quote too Harriet. One reason being I’ve been there, when it became too painful to stay where I was and I had to take a chance and move on. Blossoming tends to end up being a beautiful thing. Thank you for sharing your quote – it’s certainly one to live by. 🙂
Wonderful quotes, Elle. Right now my mantra is “This too shall pass”. And? The best thing about the future is – it comes one day at a time. Amen to that!
Hugs!
Ah Vidya, your quote about the future is fabulous. Reminds us all to stay present with this moment, with this day because in this moment everything is wonderful. Thanks for your great perspective. 🙂
Hi Elle,
I have my own quote ,one of the many that I have penned in an inspired moment;
“You live most of your life not on planet Earth,but in your own mind”
This is to emphasise the importance of watching our mind-scape consciously. The dividends far outweigh the effort in maintaining an effective attitude to the life we live.
Mona
Heck yes. This is so true richmiracle – what a great quote you penned, and thanks for sharing it with us 🙂
Elle,
I just love these quotes! Thanks, too, for sharing your thoughts along with the quotes. I needed to read these today!!
xoxox
Betsy
Nice to have you back Betsy…and you’re very welcome…I’m sure I needed the reminder my own self. I’ve heard that we write what we need to remember or learn. 🙂
OMG, Elle, one of the best posts ever!!! These quotes are the story of my life. I have lived with a regret, had to trudge forward despite the worst naysayers possible, had to let go of the planned life, though very limited, I had in mind to the adventurous one I experienced and continue to do so, to the chagrin of others, but what is their problem, really? I can never figure out the problem people have of others wishing to experience life to the fullest, because, according to them, that is just not possible, when I am proof it is! And, the fact that I am here proves I have not given up and won’t.
And if life is a reflection of thoughts and feelings, then I feel sorry for most people. See, they don’t read your blog with these awesome quotes!
Another quote I’d like to share is one by Oscar Wilde. Ever the romantic, which totally resonates with me, he said, “With freedom, books, flowers, and the moon, who could not be happy?” This is from my daily happy quote app
I’ve installed on my smartphone.
Have a great day!
So glad you enjoyed this post. I love the daily happy quote app…and Oscar Wilde wrote some beauties. I’m a quote lover in general…there’s so much wisdom for us to contemplate and use. It’ so great to hear that you’re living a life of your choosing…we all need to be doing exactly that. Thanks for sharing your story kiddo. 🙂
Oh Elle-
I know you wrote this post for me (she smiles) – Today is the perfect day to read and feel your wise words. To choose one out of the 5 quotes would be impossible – each is rich and grabbed my heart.
Joseph Campbell was a wizard – I mean that in the most complimentary way. All of us who read his book and watched his PBS specials know his now famous phrase ‘follow your bliss’. But he has one sentence about experiencing rapture in life – the exact sentence is inconsequential it was his use of the word ‘rapture’ and experiencing a life filled with it that has stayed with me all of these years. How glorious is that? xxoo-
I think it’s truly glorious Fran. He was certainly a remarkable man, filled to the brim and overflowing with wisdom. It’s so wonderful to meet so many amazing people on the same path, who have much to offer in our life…and you are one of them and I thank you for sharing your wisdom with us. 🙂
Love all these quotes, Elle, but this one resonates the most with me – “We must let go of the life we had planned so as to have the life that is waiting for us.” – Joseph Campbell. Change is what I’m about and when I had to let go of one life to find the next phase, it is so true that you cannot keep looking back. I had to let go of the regrets and move on. Beautiful post!
Thanks Cathy. I suspect we’ve all been there looking over our shoulder at some time in our life and as you say we have to let go of regret and move on. 🙂