Quote of the Day

Those who are awake live in a state of constant amazement.

-- Jack Kornfield, Buddha's Little Instruction Book, p. 124

Quote of the Day

A good measure is to compare the price of a book to the price of food at a sporting event. I once bought a $26 beer at a hockey game. Suddenly $26 for a book doesn't seem exactly unfair, does it?

-- Stephen Marche, "How to Quit Amazon and Shop in an Actual Bookstore"

Quote of the Day

Shame is difficult.  It's a weapon and a signal.  It can paralyze or motivate.

-- Amy Poehler, Yes Please, p. 71

Quote of the Day

Like Richard Pryor, who struggled in his comedy career until he started telling jokes about growing up in a whorehouse, Kurt [Cobain] had finally discovered his unique voice, which evolved when he wrote about his family. 

-- Charles R. Cross, Heavier Than Heaven, p. 162

Quote of the Day

Emotional blackmailers often behave as though each disagreement is the make-or-break factor in the relationship.  They feel such intense disappointment and frustration when they encounter resistance that they blow up even minor discord and allow it to color the whole relationship.

-- Susan Forward with Donna Frazier, Emotional Blackmail, p. 89

Quote of the Day

You become strong by doing the things you need to be strong for.  This is the way genuine learning takes place.  That's a very difficult way to live, but it also has served me.  It's been an asset as well as a liability.

-- Audre Lorde

Quote of the Day

Perfectionism is not the same thing as striving for excellence.  Perfectionism is not about healthy achievement and growth.  Perfectionism is a defensive move.  It's the belief that if we do things perfectly and look perfect, we can minimize or avoid the pain of blame, judgment, and shame.  Perfectionism is a twenty-ton shield that we lug around, thinking it will protect us, when in fact it's the thing that's really preventing us from being seen.

-- Brene Brown, Daring Greatly, p. 128-129

Quote of the Day

If you wish to know the divine, feel the wind on your face and the warm sun on your hand.

-- Jack Kornfield, Buddha's Little Instruction Book, p. 123

Quote of the Day

A good book arrives when the mood for it has arrived in the reader.

-- Stephen Marche, "How to Quit Amazon and Shop in an Actual Bookstore"

Quote of the Day

Anger and embarrassment are often neighbors.  Sometimes we get defensive about what we feel guilty about.

-- Amy Poehler, Yes Please, p. 70

Quote of the Day

The people we are not meant to be with will always reject us and turn us down.  We can never be good enough for them, if we were not good enough in the beginning.  We need to realize this and when we get a sign, a gut feeling, a nudge that this person is not for us we must look for the exit sign right there and then.  No waiting.  No doubting.  No wondering how we can make ourselves better so they see us.  You see, there are so many people who actually would want to be with us.  It is possible that because we have been so obsessed with these other folks we have completely missed the ones who loved us to begin with.  Next time you get a gut feeling that someone is ignoring you or that you are not connecting with them somehow, don't keep trying.  They could be your colleagues, your peers, your family or someone you are really attracted to.  Know that it is for the best if you don't pursue or turn your world upside down just to get their approval.  You could be the queen or the king and still be ignored and not loved ... Now go and be with the people who want to be with you.  Anybody else...well you know what to do.  Don't be with them.

-- Christina Rasmussen, "Be with the People Who Want to Be with You"

Quote of the Day

Blackmailers can be like steamrollers when we don't satisfy them, becoming ruthless in their single-minded pursuit of their goals.  It's a strange kind of love that is so blind to the target's feelings.

-- Susan Forward with Donna Frazier, Emotional Blackmail, p. 88

Quote of the Day

For so much of my life, I wished into the darkness to be someone else, some elusive ideal that represented possibility and contentment.  I was steadily reaching in the dark across a chasm that separated who I was and who I thought I should be.  Somewhere along the way, I grew weary of grasping at possible selves, just out of reach.  So I put my arms down and wrapped them around me.  I began healing by embracing myself through the foreboding darkness until the sunrise shone on my face.  Eventually, I emerged, and surrendered to the brilliance, discovering truth, beauty, and peace that was already mine.

-- Janet Mock, Redefining Realness, p. 258

Quote of the Day

Perfectionism is not the path that leads us to our gifts and to our sense of purpose; it's the hazardous detour.

-- Brene Brown, Daring Greatly, p. 128

Quote of the Day

Some days we feel like strangers.  When our heart opens, we will realize that we belong just here.

-- Jack Kornfield, Buddha's Little Instruction Book, p. 121

Quote of the Day

Not all toxic people are cruel and uncaring.  Some of them love us dearly.  Many of them have good intentions.  Most are toxic to our being simply because their needs and way of existing in the world force us to compromise ourselves and our happiness.  They aren't inherently bad people, but they aren't the right people for us.  And as hard as it is, we have to let them go.  Life is hard enough without being around people who bring you down, and as much as you care, you can't destroy yourself for the sake of someone else.  You have to make your well being a priority.  Whether that means breaking up with someone you care about, loving a family member from a distance, letting go of a friend, or removing yourself from a situation that feels painful -- you have every right to leave and create a safer space for yourself.

-- Daniell Koepke

Quote of the Day

It takes years as a woman to unlearn what you have been taught to be sorry for.  It takes years to find your voice and seize your real estate.

-- Amy Poehler, Yes Please, p. 65

Quote of the Day

American culture worships creativity, but mostly in the abstract.  Most people really don't like new ideas that sound entirely new, particularly the experts that often have to approve them.  The trick is learning to frame new ideas as old ideas -- to make your creativity seem, well, not quite so creative.

 -- Derek Thompson, "Why Experts Reject Creativity"

Quote of the Day

Much of the pain and confusion of emotional blackmail, in fact, arises from seeing people we care about and who we believe care about us become people who need to get their way so much that they are willing to ride roughshod over our feelings.

-- Susan Forward with Donna Frazier, Emotional Blackmail, p. 87

Quote of the Day

We must abolish the entitlement that deludes us into believing that we have the right to make assumptions about people's identities and project those assumptions onto their genders and bodies.

-- Janet Mock, Redefining Realness, p. 257

Quote of the Day

In all of my data collecting, I've never heard one person attribute their joy, success, or Wholeheartedness to being perfect.  In fact, what I've heard over and over throughout the years is one clear message: "The most valuable and important things in my life came to me when I cultivated the courage to be vulnerable, imperfect, and self-compassionate."

-- Brene Brown, Daring Greatly, p. 128

Quote of the Day

If you let cloudy water settle, it will become clear.  If you let your upset mind settle, your course will also become clear.

-- Jack Kornfield, Buddha's Little Instruction Book, p. 119

Quote of the Day

One hundred percent of teenagers dream about making out, but they only dream about making out with 5 percent of other teenagers.  This means our dreams and our realities are barely on speaking terms, so we look forward to making out with people who aren't real, keeping us in a nearly universal state of teen frustration.  It screws us up for the rest of our lives, as we keep hoping for the unattainable.  It's like if you planned your whole life around meeting Garfield, the cartoon cat.  I do not know anyone who claims they want to own a cat someday, but they're holding out for Garfield.  If I met somebody who broke up with their cats every few weeks and said, "He just doesn't eat lasagna," or "I don't know, he was nice, but seldom seemed to be thinking sassy wisecracks about the slobbering dog," I would have to assume this person was an idiot.  Yet practically every teenager on earth channels their deepest sexual and romantic yearnings into fantasies.

-- Rob Sheffield, Talking to Girls About Duran Duran, p. 186-187

Quote of the Day

Sticking up for ourselves in the same way we would one of our friends is a hard but satisfying thing to do.  Sometimes it works.

-- Amy Poehler, Yes Please, p. 23

Quote of the Day

Creative people often bristle at the suggestion that they have to stoop to marketing their ideas.  It's more pleasant to think that one's brilliance is self-evident and doesn't require the gloss of sales or the theater of marketing.  But whether you're an academic, screenwriter, or entrepreneur, the difference between a brilliant new idea with bad marketing [and] a mediocre idea with excellent marketing can be the difference between success and bankruptcy.

-- Derek Thompson, "Why Experts Reject Creativity"

Quote of the Day

To an emotional blackmailer, keeping your trust doesn't count, respecting your feelings doesn't count, being fair doesn't count.

-- Susan Forward with Donna Frazier, Emotional Blackmail, p. 79

Quote of the Day

Frankly, I'm not responsible for other people's perceptions and what they consider real or fake.

-- Janet Mock, Redefining Realness, p. 257

Quote of the Day

Don't squander joy.  We can't prepare for tragedy and loss.  When we turn every opportunity to feel joy into a test drive for despair, we actually diminish our resilience ... But every time we allow ourselves to lean into joy and give in to those moments, we build resilience and we cultivate hope.  The joy becomes part of who we are, and when bad things happen -- and they do happen -- we are stronger.

-- Brene Brown, Daring Greatly, p. 126

Quote of the Day

Life lives on life.  We all eat and are eaten.  When we forget this, we cry; when we remember this, we can nourish one another.

-- Jack Kornfield, Buddha's Little Instruction Book, p. 114

Quote of the Day

Fear of pop [music] is an infantile disorder -- you should face up to it like a man.

-- Green Gartside

Quote of the Day

Being considered beautiful can be tough.  I know this because I work in Hollywood, which is filled with the most conventionally beautiful people in the world.  Beautiful people can get objectified and underestimated.  They didn't do anything to earn their genes so they have to struggle to prove they are more than their hot bods.  People assume they are happy and good in bed, and most times this is not true.  Plus, some beautiful people get a little addicted to being told they are beautiful and have real trouble when they get older, get less attention, or have their spouse cheat on them with someone considered "plain."

-- Amy Poehler, Yes Please, p. 21