Inspirational quotes
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Lifelong learning
“No, this is not the beginning of a new chapter in my life; this is the beginning of a new book! That first book is already closed, ended, and tossed into the seas. This new book is newly opened, has just begun. Look, it is the first page! And it is a beautiful one!” ~ C. JoyBell C. For me, the best part of leading community workshops — in person again — is the privilege of spending time with fascinating people who want to keep growing. This fall, I’ve met many new friends who are ready to brush off the dust of the pandemic and reboot their lives. They’re ready for…
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How do we look?
“Ten years from now it won’t really matter what shoes you wore today, how your hair looked, or what brand of jeans you bought. What will matter is how you thought about yourself, how you lived, what you learned, and where you applied this knowledge.” ~Marc and Angel Chernoff, Marc & Angel Hack Life Everywhere I look, I see ads for products that promise to erase wrinkles, hide age spots, and make me look 10 years younger. Several of my girlfriends have found the courage to let their hair go gray — and they look beautiful — but I haven’t mustered the courage to do the same. It’s human nature to…
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Notes to yourself
“Sit back and reflect, and you’ll see things differently. Don’t buy into someone’s dream when you have your own dreams to bring to fruition. Love who you are and what you can do.” ~Horoscope for Leo (21st Century Media), August 16 Are you following your own script … or someone else’s? Do you design your life around your own vision, or what the culture expects of you? I don’t usually quote daily horoscopes from the newspaper, but this one was worth revisiting. Sometimes the best plan of action is to “sit back and reflect” on what you’re trying to accomplish. Jot down a few notes while you’re at it. This…
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Attitude
“The last of the human freedoms is to choose one’s attitudes.” – Viktor E. Frankl In Man’s Search for Meaning, Austrian neurologist and Holocaust survivor Viktor Frankl chronicled his experiences as a prisoner in a Nazi concentration camp. The book — one of the ten best-selling books of all time in the U.S. — describes Frankl’s psychotherapeutic method of identifying a positive purpose or reason to go on living. In short, he concluded that attitude is everything. The meaning of life glimmers in every moment we’re alive. As Frankl reminds us, when we are unable to change our situation, we have the freedom to change ourselves. We choose how to…
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How to dress for the day
“If you have good thoughts, they will shine out of your face like sunbeams and you will always look lovely.” ~Roald Dahl When I wake up crabby and the early-morning headlines are depressing, my first impulse is to spend the day shuffling around in my pajamas — or reach for an icky outfit that shouldn’t be seen in public. (This became a habit for most of us during the quarantine weeks of the pandemic.) I’ve always been a clothes horse, but I used to save all my “nice” clothes for special occasions. One morning, I finally woke up to the fact that every new day is worth celebrating. So I started…
