INSPIRATIONAL QUOTES

The beginning of a new year is bittersweet. It is full of promise and panic ... the glory and uncertainty of a blank canvas. You are now working to clear out the clutter of the last month and year and find the energy to face the year to come. We find that many people take this opportunity to clear out internal clutter as well. Don't live through another year by just barely hanging on. Give us a call!

Here, to start you on your way, are quotes that we as individuals have found compelling in our own lives. They are meant to capture your imagination, enhance your sense of hope, and bring inspiration for the year ahead.

Marie Egeland

Drop Thy still dews of quietness
`til all our strivings cease
Take from our souls the strain and stress
And let our ordered lives confess
the beauty of Thy peace. (John Greenleaf Whittier)

Stay this moment, this very moment, stay you are so fair...
stay this moment. No one ever says that enough.
(Virginia Wolf's Diaty, December 31, 1932)

Oh the comfort
The inexpressible comfort Of feeling safe with a person;
Having neither to weigh thoughts nor measure words,
But to pour them out just as they are,
Chaff and grain together,
Knowing that a faithful hand will take and sift them,
Keeping what is worth keeping, and then,
With a breath of kindness
Blow the rest away. (Anon.)

I've dreamt in my life dreams that have stayed
with me ever after, And changed my ideas;
They've gone through and through me, like
wine through water, and altered the colors of my mind.
(Emily Bronte)

"Ya just gotta laugh" (Egeland) Susan Koestler
The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking
new landscapes, but in having new eyes.
(Marcel Proust)

It is healthier to see the good points of others than to
analyze our own bad ones.
(Francoise Sagan)

Kindness in words creates confidence.
Kindness in thinking creates profoundness.
Kindness in giving creates love.
(philosopher Lao Tzu)

Come to me all who labor and are heavy laden, and I
will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn
from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart and you
will find rest for your souls. My yoke is easy and my
burden is light.
(Jesus as quoted by Matthew)

To the soul the most minute details and the most
ordinary activities, carried out with mindfulness
and art, have an effect far beyond their apparent
insignificance.
(Thomas Moore)

Lindsay De Los Santos

How prompt we are to satisfy the hunger and
thirst of our bodies, how slow to satisfy the
hunger and thirst of our souls. (Thoreau)

Berry suggests that instead of measuring someone's
intelligence in terms of the mystery of specialized
information, we should instead judge it by the good
order of harmoniousness of his or her surroundings.
(Wirzba, 2002)

Though more of us live a life of luxury and ease,
fewer of us can claim that our lives are permeated
with peace and joy. The frantic, stressful striving
going on all around us indicates that we are
profoundly lost. We seem unable to ask with any
seriousness of depth the question of what all of our
striving is ultimately for. (Wirzba, 2002)

There is hope in every situation. Life is a choice; we
can either choose to see the "glass" half full or half
empty. It is all about attitude, and the way we choose
to look at our situation. We are equipped with the
answers we need. It is just a matter of taking time to
tap into that wisdom. (De Los Santos, 2005)

Courage is being afraid but doing it anyway.
(Winfrey)

I will give them singleness of heart and put a
new spirit within them. I will take away their
hearts of stone and give them tender hearts instead.
(The prophet Ezekiel quoting one of the promises of God)

Nobody sees a flower really — it is so small — we
haven't time, and to see takes time, like to have
a friend takes time. (Georgia O'Keefe)

Picture a giant dump truck
Full of love.
There you are behind it.
God lifts the bed
Until the love starts to slide.
slowly at first, then down, down, down,
down until you are
hidden, buried,
covered
in His love. (Max Lucado)

"He loads me with love and mercy" (Psalm 103:4)

All shall be well and
All shall be well and
All manner of thing shall be well.
(Jilian of Norwich)

Gwyn Zmolek

You, yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe, deserve your love and affection.
-Buddha

The way you treat yourself sets the standard for others.
-Sonya Friedman

We can complain because rose bushes have thorns, or rejoice because thorn bushes have roses.
-Abraham Lincoln

At this very moment, you may be saying to yourself that you have any number of admirable qualities. You are a loyal friend, a caring person, someone who is smart, dependable, fun to be around. That's wonderful, and I'm happy for you, but let me ask you this: are you being any of those things to yourself?
-Phillip C. McGraw

There are two primary choices in life; to accept conditions as they exist, or accept the responsibility for changing them. Other people's opinion of you does not have to become your reality.
-Les Brown

It took me a long time not to judge myself through someone else's eyes.
-Sally Field

If you hear a voice within you say "you cannot paint," then by all means paint, and that voice will be silenced.
-Vincent Van Gogh

It's not who you are that holds you back, it's who you think you're not.
-Author Unknown

I think the reward for conformity is that everyone likes you except yourself.
-Rita Mae Brow

You have to expect things of yourself before you can do them.
-Michael Jordan

You will always have to live with yourself, and it is to your best interest to see that you have good company -- a clean, pure, straight, honest, upright, generous, magnanimous companion.
-Orison Swett Marden

When the grass looks greener on the other side of the fence, it may be that they take better care of it there.
-Cecil Selig

Know that you are your greatest enemy, but also your greatest friend.
-Jeremy Taylor

People are just as happy as they make up their minds to be. 
-Abraham Lincoln

Whatever you are, be a good one.
-Abraham Lincoln