Quote of the Day

You think your pain and your heartbreak are unprecedented in the history of the world, but then you read. It was books that taught me that the things that tormented me most were the very things that connected me with all the people who were alive, or who had ever been alive.

-- James Baldwin

Quote of the Day

No matter which goal you choose, there will be lots of people telling you you're wrong.  Just pay close attention to what excites you and what drains you.  Pay close attention to when you're being the real you and when you're trying to impress an invisible jury.

-- Derek Sivers, Anything You Want, p. 77

Quote of the Day

If you look to artists who've managed to achieve lifelong careers, you detect the same pattern: They all have been able to persevere, regardless of success or failure.

-- Austin Kleon, Show Your Work!, p. 187

Quote of the Day

Fear moves us into black-and-white -- even catastrophic -- thinking.

-- Susan Forward with Donna Frazier, Emotional Blackmail, p. 45

Quote of the Day

Self-definition has been a responsibility I've wholeheartedly taken on as mine.  It's never a duty one should outsource.

-- Janet Mock, Redefining Realness, p. 172

Quote of the Day

The research team found that the act of not discussing a traumatic event or confiding it to another person could be more damaging than the actual event.  Conversely, when people shared their stories and experiences, their physical health improved, their doctor's visits decreased, and they showed significant decreases in their stress hormones.

-- Brene Brown, Daring Greatly, p. 82

Quote of the Day

Do not seek perfection in a changing world.  Instead, perfect your love.

-- Jack Kornfield, Buddha's Little Instruction Book, p. 103

Quote of the Day

Survival is one thing, thrival is another.

-- Rob and Kristen Bell, The Zimzum of Love, p. 43

Quote of the Day

Business is as creative as the fine arts.  You can be as unconventional, unique, and quirky as you want.  A business is a reflection of the creator.

-- Derek Sivers, Anything You Want, p. 76

Quote of the Day

You can't plan on anything; you can only go about your work, as Isak Dinesen wrote, "every day, without hope or despair."  You can't count on success; you can only leave open the possibility for it, and be ready to jump on and take the ride when it comes for you.

-- Austin Kleon, Show Your Work!, p. 183-184

Quote of the Day

Blackmailers turn up the volume, blasting us until we're so uncomfortable we will do almost anything -- even something that is not in our best interests -- to return these feelings to a more tolerable level.

-- Susan Forward with Donna Frazier, Emotional Blackmail, p. 40

Quote of the Day

This pervasive idea that trans women deserve violence needs to be abolished.  It's a socially sanctioned practice of blaming the victim.  We must begin blaming our culture, which stigmatizes, demeans, and strips trans women of their humanity.

-- Janet Mock, Redefining Realness, p. 161

Quote of the Day

Shame thrives on secret keeping, and when it comes to secrets, there's some serious science behind the twelve-step program saying, "You're only as sick as your secrets."

-- Brene Brown, Daring Greatly, p. 82

Quote of the Day

What has been long neglected cannot be restored immediately.  Fruit falls from the tree when it is ripe.  The way cannot be forced.

-- Jack Kornfield, Buddha's Little Instruction Book, p. 102

Quote of the Day

The Greek word for forgive is actually two words attached to each other: the word send and the word away.  To forgive is to send away.

-- Rob and Kristen Bell, The Zimzum of Love, p. 105

Quote of the Day

When someone's doing something for the money, people can sense it, like a desperate lover.  It's a turnoff.

-- Derek Sivers, Anything You Want, p. 33

Quote of the Day

Work is never finished, only abandoned.

-- Paul Valery

Quote of the Day

Emotional blackmail flourishes in a fog that spreads just below the surface of our understanding, like a bank of clouds under an airplane.  As we descend into the blackmail zone, a thick mist of emotions swirls around us, and we lose our ability to think clearly about what the blackmailer is doing, or what we are doing in response.  Our judgement becomes hazy.

-- Susan Forward with Donna Frazier, Emotional Blackmail, p. 39

Quote of the Day

Becoming comfortable with your identity is step one; the next step is revealing that identity to those around you.

-- Janet Mock, Redefining Realness, p. 144

Quote of the Day

I am not what has happened to me.  I am what I choose to become.

-- Carl Jung

Quote of the Day

Even our anger can be held with a heart of kindness.

-- Jack Kornfield, Buddha's Little Instruction Book, p. 100

Quote of the Day

Any thought -- however trivial or fleeting it is -- about who or what you aren't takes directly away from who and what you are.

-- Rob and Kristen Bell, The Zimzum of Love, p. 104

Quote of the Day

For an idea to get big big big, it has to be useful.  And being useful doesn't need funding.

-- Derek Sivers, Anything You Want, p. 15-16

Quote of the Day

The people who get what they're after are very often the ones who just stick around long enough.  It's important not to quit prematurely.

-- Austin Kleon, Show Your Work!, p. 183

Quote of the Day

Most emotional blackmailers are not monsters.  As we'll see, they're rarely driven by malice but rather by some demons of their own ... Because they are usually people who have an important place in our lives, people we may still want to look to as protectors or supporters, I know that recognizing them as blackmailers can be extremely painful.  It's not easy to look closely at behavior we may have tried to forgive or ignore and see how it's affected us.  But it's a vital step if we hope to put a troubled relationship back on solid ground.

-- Susan Forward with Donna Frazier, Emotional Blackmail, p. 38

Quote of the Day

I was no wallflower, but I also wasn't encroaching on anyone else's life.  I didn't believe in asking for acceptance or permission to be myself; I took what I felt I deserved.

-- Janet Mock, Redefining Realness, p. 131

Quote of the Day

Own the story!  Don't bury it and let it fester or define me.  I often say this aloud: "If you own this story you get to write the ending.  If you own this story you get to write the ending."  When we bury the story we forever stay the subject of the story.  If we own the story we get to narrate the ending.

-- Brene Brown, Daring Greatly, p. 80

Quote of the Day

Forgiveness is primarily for our own sake, so that we no longer carry the burden of resentment.  But to forgive does not mean we will allow injustice again.

-- Jack Kornfield, Buddha's Little Instruction Book, p. 96

Quote of the Day

Spirituality is not about escape from the body or this world; it's about being fully present in it.

-- Rob and Kristen Bell, The Zimzum of Love, p. 103

Quote of the Day

When you say "no" to most things, you leave room in your life to throw yourself completely into that rare thing that makes you say "HELL YEAH!"  Every event you get invited to.  Every request to start a new project.  If you're not saying "HELL YEAH!" about it, say "no."  We're all busy.  We've all taken on too much.  Saying yes to less is the way out.

-- Derek Sivers, Anything You Want, p. 12